Saturday, November 15, 2014

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The last GNAC school in the NCAA tournament lost on Saturday afternoon as the four seed Cal State Stanislaus outlasted host Western Washington 1-0 at Harrington Field in Bellingham.

The Warriors advance to the West Region championship match Friday, Nov. 21 against the winner between Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Los Angeles.

Western Washington suffered its first official loss of the season, finishing with a 16-1-4 record.

This is the first time since 2011 a GNAC school has not advanced through the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The match was scoreless until the 25th minute when the Warriors Tina Benson received a pass from Kirsten Coleman inside the box where she knocked in her second goal of the season from 10 yards out.

WWU placed a third of its shots on goal in the first half and the Vikings defense held CSUS to five first half shots with one on goal, but that one shot on mark was all the Warriors needed.

The Vikings managed to double their shots and shots on goal from the first half, finishing with 12, but none got passed the Warriors keeper.

The GNAC regular season champions only had one shot in the last 15 minutes while the Warriors kept the ball on the offensive end, shooting three times. 

This is the second GNAC team CSUS has beat in the NCAA tournament as it defeated Seattle Pacific on Thursday 2-1 in double overtime.