Saturday, November 5, 2011

Kelsey Jenkins scored twice and assisted on a third goal as Seattle Pacific won its ninth straight game ending the regular season with a 4-2 home victory over Central Washington Saturday.

The 12th-ranked Falcons (16-2) finished with a 13-1 league record to easily capture the GNAC's automatic berth in the NCAA playoffs.

Montana State Billings (11-3-4, 8-2-4) defeated Northwest Nazarene 4-0 Saturday to slip past Central Washington (9-5-4, 8-4-2) and finish in a tie for second place with Western Washington (10-5-3, 9-4-1), dropping the Wildcats to fourth.

The 48-team NCAA Division II championship field will be announced Monday at 4 p.m. SPU hopes to receive one of the Top 2 seeds in the West Region and the accompanying home field advantage and first-round bye.

Jenkins did her part to secure a high seed netting the game-winner at 71:25 on a 19-yard free kick from the center of the field directing a shot into the lower left corner.

The senior midfielder found the back of the net 10 minutes later with a 17-yard blast from the left side of the box that caromed off the right post on its way in at 81:08.

Megan Lindsay assisted on the final goal. She also played a part in back-to-back SPU goals that occurred 21 seconds apart.

Lindsay sent a pass to freshman Riley Dopps who flipped the ball around the goalkeeper before finding the open net from 15 yards out at 36:24.

At 36:45, Lindsay sent a low drive that nicked off a CWU defender before traveling into the lower right of the goal.

The Wildcats took the lead at 3:08 on a seven-yard header by Kelsy Villegas off a corner kick from Hadli Farrand.

After the two quick SPU strikes, Carson McKole equalized for Central at 40:19, making the score 2-2 at halftime. Amy Pate sent a low pass from the right side that McKole tapped in at the left post from six yards away.

Montana State Billings scored two goals 30 seconds apart in the first half in defeating Northwest Nazarene in a game which started two hours and 20 minutes late in order to clear the field of snow and finished with snow once again covering the surface.

Heidi Greenback got the first goal after taking a through ball from Jaucelyn Richter at 37:08. Thirty seconds later Greenback assisted Richter, tying the school record for the shortest time between goals.

Richter made it 3-0 at 50:38 with her 11th goal of the season. Amanda Brusic, who also had two assists, completed the scoring at 55:39 as Jennifer Brookshire and Greenback earned assists.

MSUB finished the contest with a 14-3 edge in shots over the Crusaders (4-14-0, 2-12-0).