Thursday, November 6, 2014
TUKWILA, Wash. – Forward Elise Aylward had a goal and assist to lead Western Washington to a 2-1 win over Central Washington in the semifinals of the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships Thursday at the Starfire Sports Complex.
WWU will play Seattle Pacific, which shutout Montana State Billings 1-0 in Thursday’s first semifinal, Saturday at 1 p.m. in the title game.
It's a rematch of last year's championship game in which the teams battled to a 1-1 draw before SPU won the shootout 4-1. In 2012, the Vikings beat MSU Billings 2-0 in the title game.
"They're a great team, super experienced and well coached," head coach Travis Connell said. "They keep the ball real well, a very technical team. They have some real dangerous attacking players. It's going to be a fantastic game."
The winner of Saturday's game earns an automatic berth in next week's NCAA West Regionals which begins Thursday. The qualifying teams and sites will be announced by the NCAA with a web cast (ncaa.com) Monday at 4 p.m. Pacific time.
Aylward earned an assist as Catherine Miles scored a goal in the 24th minute to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead at half. The goal was Miles' team-leading eighth of the season. Aylward's assist was her fourth.
WWU’s defense, which didn’t allow a shot on goal in the first half, made that goal stand up until CWU got the equalizer in the 73rd minute on an unassisted goal by Keilin Farrand.
Western Washington (16-0-3), however bounced back quickly as Aylward got the game-winner at 77:13 on an assist by Caitlyn Jobanek. Aylward's goal was her fourth of the season.
"We talked about starting well and finishing well. I thought we started very well today," Connell said. "We knew Central had a lot of pride and they wern't going to let this finish without a say. They came out and battled. Give them a lot of credit."
The Viking defense was outstanding allowing CWU (8-8-3) just three shots on goal as goalkeeper Ashley Haden made just two saves. WWU outshot Central 22-10 in the game as Wildcat goalkeer Kayla Lipston made seven stops.