Saturday, October 1, 2011

Megan Lindsay scored her first college hat trick, completing it with 35 seconds left in the game to spark 14th-ranked Seattle Pacific's 4-0 defeat of Northwest Nazarene in a GNAC game at Interbay Stadium Saturday.

The win moved the defending league champion Falcons (8-2-0, 5-1-0) back into first place, one point ahead of Montana State Billings (7-1-2, 4-0-2).

Seattle Pacific is two points ahead of Central Washington (5-2-3, 4-1-1) and three ahead of Western Washington (5-3-2, 4-2-0).

SPU has 15 points, while MSUB, which played Central to a 1-1 draw Saturday, has 14. The Wildcats have 13 points while Western Washington which blanked Saint Martin's 3-0 has 12.

Western Oregon (3-5-2, 2-3-1), which edged Simon Fraser 1-0, is in fifth place with seven points.

Lindsay's hat trick was the first by a Falcon since Sept. 25, 2010 when Hannah Masson scored three in a 6-0 victory at Western Oregon.

Lindsay put SPU on the board just 3:45 into the game. NNU goalkeeper Tanya Zickefoose came out to kick the ball away from a charging Kellie Zakrzewski, but did not get a good clearance on it.

Lindsay ran onto it from the right wing side and first-timed a 40-yarder that floated into the right side before Zickefoose could get back into her net.

Thomas made it 2-0 with only 3:38 gone in the second half. She took a pass from Zakrzewski and, from 30 yards in front, fired a shot that bounced off the underside of the crossbar and dropped in behind the goal line.

Lindsay got her second score of the day seven minutes later when freshman midfielder Riley Dopps sent a ball toward the upper left side of the penalty area. Lindsay ran onto it in the box and let fly from 15 yards away with a shot that went into the back right corner at 55:56.

She completed the hat trick at 89:25, taking a feed from freshman midfielder Arden Matro, and firing into the back right corner from just inside the top of the box.

Lindsay previously had four two-goal games as a Falcon. She credits a quality assist for her first hat trick.

"On the third goal, I got a really good pass from Arden Matro. It was right through the last defender so I just took a touch in and the keeper came out. I just took it and shot it at one of the corners and it went in."

Zickefoose registered four saves for the Crusaders (4-6-0, 2-4-0), who were outshot by a 20-6 margin.

Natalie Harold and Brooke Yokers shared in the shutout, SPU's sixth of the year. Harold stopped one shot before departing in the 56th minute.

MSUB's Jaucelyn Richter scored her sixth goal of the season in the opening minute of the second half off a pass from Heidi Greenback and Central Washington got the equalizer with 1:53 remaining in regulation in their draw.

CWU's goal came when Miranda Heslep sent a corner kick in front of the MSUB goal where freshman Sydney Coleman headed the ball towards Amy Pate, who converted from three yards out.

MSUB had just a 18-16 shot advantage in the contest but the Yellowjackets' shots were of a more dangerous variety as CWU goalkeeper Kori Butterfield had to make a career-high 11 saves compared to just two by MSUB keeper Danielle Gordon.

Justina MacDowell, Kristin Maris and Emily Frankland scored goals for Western Washington, which won for the fourth time in the last five games.

MacDowell, who scored twice in Thursday's 2-1 win at Western Oregon, opened the scoring in the 35th minute, taking a pass from Joana Houplin and blasting a shot into the upper left corner from 20 yards out.

The goal capped an excellent start for the Vikings, who had the game's first 11 shot attempts and ended the contest with a 16-8 advantage in shots.

The Vikings added two more goals in a 100-second span of the second period. In the 50th minute, Megan Chapin played in with Houplin, who notched her second assist of the game with a low cross from the right that was directed in by Maris.

Shortly after, Frankland chased down a deflection and deftly chipped a shot into the far side of the net from the right edge of the goal box.

Goalkeeper Jamie Arthurs had two saves to earn her fifth shutout of the season and third in the last five games, dropping the Saints to 1-7-2 on the season, including 1-5-0 in the GNAC.

Western Oregon outshot Simon Fraser 22-2 in its win, but didn't get the game-winning goal until the 54th when Marina Austin rebounded a miss shot from Lindsay Bauman.

WOU goalie Brittney Rigtrup registered her fourth shutout of the season, stopping one shot. Simon Fraser fell to 1-7-0 remaining winless in six conference contests.