Saturday, December 3, 2016
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Emily Webster perfectly placed a free kick inside the top right corner of the goal in the 76th minute of the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer National Championship match to give Western Washington its first national title in program history with a 3-2 victory over three-time defending champion Grand Valley State on Saturday afternoon at Swope Soccer Village.
In her final collegiate soccer match, senior midfielder Caitlyn Jobanek scored twice, giving the Vikings the lead both times. The Lakers, however, found an equalizer to both Jobanek goals to tie the score 2-2. When Webster fired the ball into the net on the free kick, that gave the Vikings the lead for good, beating Grand Valley State by the same score that the Lakers beat the Vikings in the semifinals last year.
The Vikings captured their first-ever NCAA national championship in record-breaking fashion with their 24th consecutive victory, breaking the all-time GNAC record for longest winning streak. Those 24 wins all came this season, breaking another GNAC record for most wins in a single season. Both those records were held by the 2007 Seattle Pacific team that was the last squad from the conference to lift the ultimate prize.
Jobanek scored her eighth goal of the season in the 18th minute shooting from 20 yards out with her left foot into the upper left corner for the unassisted goal to give WWU a 1-0 lead. The Lakers responded in the 33rd minute with a goal by Jayma Martin to tie the score. It was the 20th goal this season for Martin and it was assisted by Gabriela Mancotti, who was named earlier this week as the D2CCA All-American Player of the Year.
The scored didn’t remain tied for long as Taylor Hallquist dished the ball to Jobanek who dribbled up to the top of the box from the left side of the goal and turned and shot into the far post for another go-ahead goal in the 37th minute. The Lakers tied the match again in the 72nd minute when Clare Carlson had her own shot from long range. It was only the second time this year that the Vikings had allowed two goals in one match after having done so in a 3-2 win against UC San Diego in September. This time, however, the second goal didn’t come when the Vikings already had a 3-1 lead.
Western Washington got straight back on the attack and a foul 25 yards outside the box gave arguably the nation’s best player in the nation at taking free kicks a chance to give her team the lead. With her teammates lined up along the edge of the 18-yard box, Webster took two steps and took a shot herself with the left foot towards the right side of the net. The ball glanced off the post and slid past the goalkeeper for the eventual national championship-winning goal.
The Vikings made no mistakes with their third lead of the game, not even allowing GVSU to take a shot in the final 15 minutes to wrap up the season as the national champions with a 24-0-1 record. Webster finished the year with four goals and eight assists. The senior class of Jobanek, Elise Aylward, Becca Cates, Anna DeWeirdt and Erin Russell finishes its four years with an 81-5-7 record.
The Vikings became the fourth GNAC team to win a NCAA national championship, joining Seattle men’s soccer in 2004, Seattle Pacific women’s soccer in 2007 and Western Washington men’s basketball in 2012. It is also the 10th national championship in Western Washington school history.