Friday, November 11, 2016

LA JOLLA, Calif. – No. 6 seed Western Washington converted two penalty kicks and a golden goal by Stephen Jinneman to advance in the NCAA Division II West Regional semifinals on Friday, beating No. 3 Dixie State 3-2 in overtime at UC San Diego’s Triton Soccer Stadium.

All three goals were scored by defenders, including two penalty kick goals by Brady Ulen. Ulen also assisted the game-winning goal on a throw into the box that bounced around before Jinneman redirected it with a header into the net in the 97th minute to send Western Washington (10-4-4) into the second round.

The victory continues an improbable run for the Vikings, who will now face No. 2 seed UC San Diego on Sunday. On Oct. 15, Western Washington tied No. 3 Simon Fraser 1-1 on the road, sparking a dramatic turnaround in the Vikings’ season. Over the last three weeks of the regular season, the Vikings won five consecutive matches, including wins over each of the top three teams in the GNAC standings at that point in the season. That streak became six on Friday.

Dixie State (15-4) got on the board first in the sixth minute of play after a shot by Ather Daward was saved by WWU goalkeeper Tyler Visten, but Angel Estrada was there to clean up the rebound for the Trailblazers, scoring his fourth goal of the season.

That stood as the lone goal until the 75th minute, when Anthony Dean drew a foul inside the box. Ulen stepped forward to take the penalty kick and drilled it low to the left past the diving goalkeeper to even the score 1-1.

A red card for Dixie State forced the Trailblazers to play a man down for the rest of the match and the Vikings took advantage, creating several scoring opportunities. In the 88th minute, Drew Barker took a shot that drew a handball on Dixie State inside the box to create another penalty kick for the Vikings. Ulen again stepped up for the Vikings and shot left to improve to 4 for 4 on penalty kicks this season.

With just seven seconds in regulation, Dixie State scored directly on a free kick by Blake Damato for his first goal of the season to force overtime.

In the 80th minute of overtime, the Vikings earned a corner kick which was tipped out to the opposite sideline to give WWU a throw in from deep in Trailblazer territory. Ulen threw the ball into a crowd of players in the box, where Jinneman came up with the game-winner to upset Dixie State.

On Sunday, the Vikings will try to continue their run against No. 2 UC San Diego. The host Tritons were CCAA champions and are 16-2-2 on the season.