Saturday, November 5, 2016
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – No. 1 seed Western Washington claimed its third GNAC championship with a 3-1 win against No. 3 Seattle Pacific with three first-half goals in a match that crossed an international border and ended eight and half hours after the scheduled start time.
Both squads stepped onto Terry Fox Field on Burnaby Mountain in Canada to warm up for their 1 p.m. GNAC championship match, which was the fourth consecutive time the two teams met in the conference final. Shortly before warm-ups ended, however, a thick fog rolled over the field, cutting visibility down to 15 yards.
Just over an hour later, the match was relocated to Harrington Field at Western Washington University for 7:30 p.m. Seattle Pacific and Western Washington crossed the United States/Canada international border and began play under a constant and heavy rainfall.
GNAC Championship Most Valuable Player Gabriela Pelogi scored two goals in the first half for WWU, including the game-winner to lift the Vikings to their 19th consecutive victory and 24th straight home win.
Seattle Pacific and Western Washington both entered the tournament with two GNAC championships since the conference added the year-end four-team tournament. The win gave Western Washington a conference-best three titles in the GNAC Championships.
The Vikings earned the GNAC’s automatic bid into the NCAA West Regional with the win, entering the tournament with an 18-0-1 record. Seattle Pacific will find out if it’s one of six teams joining Western Washington in the tournament. The Falcons have an 11-4-4 record and was the No. 5-ranked team before reaching the championship match.
GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Emily Webster scored her second goal of the tournament on a penalty kick to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead, shooting low to the right side of the goal for her second goal of the tournament.
Pelogi added the second goal that went on to count as the game-winning goal, putting the ball in the far post off a pass from Elise Aylward. Later in the first frame, Pelogi scored again after Caitlyn Jobanek crossed her defender and sent a cross into the box. Pelogi took that cross out of the air from the far post and shot to the opposite side of the goal for the 3-0 lead.
Seattle Pacific defender Brooke Pingrey took the first shot of the match for her side, shooting directly off a free kick, but her shot hit the crossbar and bounced straight down before WWU goalkeeper Ashley Homer pounced on it.
Homer wasn’t as successful in clearing out a threat the second time, though, and forward Hannah Huesers took full advantage for the Falcons, scoring in the empty net to get on the board. It was Huesers’ conference-best 11th goal this year and 47th career goal, moving within two of the all-time conference record in her senior season.