Wednesday, September 7, 2016

PORTLAND  – After the first week of play, seven of the nine GNAC women’s soccer teams are carrying a winning streak into the second week of the season and six of those teams are unbeaten.

The GNAC proved itself to be one of the toughest women’s soccer conferences in the region, scoring big wins against non-conference opponents. Overall, the GNAC finished the week 5-0 against Pacific West Conference programs and 4-3-1 against California Collegiate Athletic Association teams, including Central Washington upsetting No. 24 Sonoma State.

As a result of the hot start, four of the top seven teams in the NSCAA West Region poll were from the GNAC, led by Western Washington, which is No. 9 in the nation.

THIS WEEK’S GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSIVE

Emma Pringle, Simon Fraser, F • 5-8 • Freshman • North Vancouver, B.C.

Pringle had a great start to her collegiate career, scoring both goals for Simon Fraser in their 2-0 shutout of Academy of Art on Thursday. Both goals came in the second half as the Clan outshot the Urban Knights 27-2. Also Nominated: Ashley Cook-Cox (Northwest Nazarene), Kelli Bannerman (Saint Martin’s), Hailey Berg (Western Oregon), Sydney Van Steenberge (Concordia), Jessica Haga (Central Washington).

DEFENSIVE

Molly Stinson, Seattle Pacific, GK • 6-0 • Junior • Woodinville, Wash.

Stinson posted a pair of shutouts as the Falcons went 2-0 in Portland this weekend. She made four saves in 109 minutes of action in Thursday’s 1-0 double-overtime win over Humboldt State and added four stops in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Dixie State. Also Nominated: Ashley Homer (Western Washington), Daniele Ortiz (Northwest Nazarene), Taylor Gersch (Saint Martin’s), Caitlyn Kastelic (Western Oregon), Ana Delgadillo (Concordia), Lili Delgadillo (Montana State Billings), Emily Holt (Central Washington).

AROUND THE GNAC

CENTRAL WASHINGTON

• Central Washington won its first two games of the season, which is the first 2-0 start in program history in a decade. The last time the team started 2-0 was in 2006 when the Wildcats beat Evergreen State and Northwest.
• After Sonoma State tied Western Washington, Central Washington pulled off a 1-0 upset against the No. 24 team in the nation in the preseason rankings. It’s the team’s first win over a ranked opponent since a 3-1 win over then No. 6 Seattle Pacific in 2009.
• The Wildcats scored three goals by three different players in the two wins with Jessica Haga, Keilin Farrand and Emily Seelbach.
• Farrand has a team-high three points and five shots. She scored the first goal of the season against San Francisco State, shooting from outside of the box for an unassisted goal to tie the game at 1-1. She then assisted the game-winning goal against Sonoma State.
• Central Washington won two games against CCAA schools, which was the best of any GNAC squad. The rest of the GNAC went 2-3-1 against the CCAA with the other two CCAA wins coming from Seattle Pacific and Concordia both beating Humboldt State.
• Emily Holt allowed a goal 15 minutes into the season, but since then has been perfect, recording 15 saves and a shutout against Sonoma State. Of all the players in the conference with double-digit saves, Holt has the highest save percentage at .938 through 180 minutes of play.
• After not being ranked regionally last year by the NSCAA, the Wildcats are ranked fourth after the first week of the season.

CONCORDIA

• For the fifth year in a row, the Cavaliers start the season with a pair of wins, shutting out Dixie State and Humboldt State.
• Concordia is now 5-1-1 in non-conference play since joining the GNAC for the start of the 2015 season.
• The Cavaliers are unbeaten in all 12 matches played at Tuominen Yard since joining the conference. Including NAIA competition, that streak is now at 34 games, which is tied for the longest active streak in the conference.
• Anna Miller started both games at goalkeeper, while Olivia Brock came in for the second half both times. The two keepers combined for two shutouts and a total of 180 shutout minutes. Brock had three saves, boosting her career save percentage to .908 which remains an all-time GNAC record. She also now ranks fourth in goals against average at .497 in her career.
• Both Kayla Braunthal and Mallory Flatebo have only taken one shot all season and both shots that they took resulted in goals and Flatebo’s goal was the game-winner against Humboldt State.
• The Concordia defensive line has make the goalkeepers’ job easy so far this year only allowing four shots on frame through the first two games. That is the least shots on goal allowed of any team that has played multiple games this season.
• Concordia hits the road for the first time this season on the weekend, going to Seattle, Wash. to play against Cal State East Bay.

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS

• The Yellowjackets dropped a pair in Colorado to open the season. This is the first time since joining the conference in 2007 that MSU Billings has lost consecutive non-conference matches.
• In their previous nine seasons as members of the GNAC, the Yellowjackets have gone 29-12-3 in non-conference play with a winning record all nine years.
• Montana State Billings will play three more non-conference games, which are all in Billings, Mont. The Yellowjackets will have to win all three to maintain their streak of seasons with a winning record against non-conference opponents.
• MSU Billings went 5-1-1 at home last year and each of its next five matches will be played at the Yellowjacket Soccer Field.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE

• The Crusaders snapped an eight-match losing streak with a 3-2 win on Tuesday against Warner Pacific, becoming the seventh GNAC squad to earn a victory this season.
• Northwest Nazarene has scored a conference-best four goals this season and all four goals have been scored by four different players: Kayla Williams, Madi Taylor, Emily Wilkins and Ashley Cook-Cox, who also has an assist.
• Wilkens scored the game-winning goal in the win against Warner Pacific.
• NNU won five matches last year and three of them were in non-conference play. So far this year, the team is 1-2 in conference play.
• Daniele Ortiz has a conference-best 19 saves this season and also had a goalless stretch of 90 minutes and 16 seconds. She also shutout Warner Pacific in the second half to allow the Crusaders to come back from a 1-2 deficit.
• Cook-Cox is one of only three players in the conference to both score and assist a goal. The assist came on Wilkens’ game-winning goal.

SAINT MARTIN’S

• The Saints led 1-0 against Cal State LA, which was picked to finish third in the CCAA, before the Golden Eagles came back with two goals in a row for a 2-1 comeback victory.
• Kelli Bannerman scored the opening goal. It was the senior’s 17th career goal, giving her a total of 37 career points. She now ranks 70th in conference history for points and 51st in goals.
• The Saints are now 0-7-1 in season openers since defeating Cal State San Bernardino in 2008.
• On Thursday, SMU will play its home opener against Notre Dame de Namur. In 2015, all three games that the Saints won were at home. The Saints will also open conference play at home this week against Concordia on Tuesday.

SEATTLE PACIFIC

• Seattle Pacific started the season with two shutout victories. The Falcons achieved the same accomplishment last season.
• The last time SPU started two consecutive seasons with two shutout victories was 2009-10. Both years, the Falcons finished as conference champions. In 2009, Seattle Pacific started the season with 10 consecutive shutouts.
• Maddie Krauss scored the golden goal in Seattle Pacific’s 1-0 victory over Humboldt State. The goal was scored with exactly a minute left in the final overtime period.
• Hannah Huesers scored the other game-winning goal for Seattle Pacific, which was against Dixie State. With the goal, the senior became the 10th player in conference history to score 11 career game-winners.
• Goalkeeper Molly Stinson has a conference-best eight saves among the six keepers that have yet to allow a goal this season. She has now recorded shutouts in five consecutive regular season games.
• The Falcons have played the most physical brand of soccer, fouling 34 times in two games. However, not a single yellow card has been issed to SPU.
• Seattle Pacific has taken 11 corner kicks this season for an average of 5.5 per match, which leads the conference.

SIMON FRASER

• The Clan did not allow a single shot on goal in its season-opening win against Academy of Art and only allowed two shots in total. Every other team in the conference has allowed at least four shots on goal this season.
• SFU took 27 shots and 13 of them were on frame.
• Simon Fraser scored two goals in its only game of the week and is the only team that is averaging at least two goals per game at this point.
• SFU recorded three goals in the win, which is tied for the most assists in the conference, but each of the four other teams with three assists have already played at least two games.
• Emma Pringle took 13 shots in the season opener, while no other player in the conference has even taken double-digit shots in the entire first week of the season. Pringle was also the only player to score multiple goals this week.
• Allyson and Christina Dickson both had assists in the victory and Jenna Baxter was also credited with an assist on the second goal of the game.
• After defeating a California team in Canada, Simon Fraser will go to Canada for a three-game trip to play Cal State LA, Cal State Dominguez Hills and Concordia-Irvine.
• All of Simon Fraser’s first four opponents are schools from California. Last year, Simon Fraser didn’t play any California schools.
• Prior to the win against Academy of Art, Simon Fraser had lost all six of its previous meetings wtih California programs in this decade.

WESTERN OREGON

• The Wolves defeated George Fox in their season opener for their second consecutive win going back to last season. It’s the second time in a row that WOU has won the season opener with a shutout.
• Taylor Higa scored the game-winning goal early in the second half off a pass from the right side by Allison Sprecher.
• Caitlyn Kastelic recorded seven saves in the shutout of her collegiate debut. She backed that up with another shutout with six saves against Academy of Art.
• Western Oregon started a three-game series spread over five days in California with a win against Academy of Art, 1-0. They will next play Stanislaus State and Fresno Pacific.
• Higa became the second player in the GNAC to score twice in the season, scoring directly off a free kick for the only goal in the win against Academy of Art.

WESTERN WASHINGTON

• Western Washington was shutout in a scoreless tie in the season opener. It was the first time in 24 matches that the Vikings had been shutout, which was 10 games away from the record of 34 consecutive games not being shutout set by Seattle Pacific in 2004.
• Western Washington is ranked second in the West Region after the first week. The Vikings won the West Region last year and are unbeaten in their last 19 matches against regional opponents.
• WWU defeated Academy of Art 3-0 in its home opener, which was the team’s 13th consecutive win at home and improves the Vikings unbeaten streak at home to 34 going back to 2012. The conference record for an unbeaten streak at home is 44 by Seattle Pacific in 2010.
• The Vikings lead the conference in shots with 52, including 15 in their scoreless tie with Sonoma State in which four were on goal. Against Academy of Art, WWU put 18 shots on goal and took 37 shots overall.
• Ashley Homer is tied for the conference lead in shutouts and has the most shutout minutes of at exactly 200. Homer saved all five shots on goal in her first week playing for the Vikings after transferring in 2014 and redshirting last season.
• Emily Bunnell, Annaliese Laurila and Liv Larson all scored the first goals of their career in the 3-0 win against Academy of Art. Larson is a true freshman, while the other two are redshirt freshmen.

MILESTONE TRACKER

Hannah Huesers (SPU) - The Falcon scored the game-winning goal in SPU’s 1-0 win against Dixie State. It was her 36th career goal. The 2015 GNAC Offensive Player of the Year now needs 13 more goals to break the all-time conference record. Huessers now has 79 career points, moving up to 16th most in GNAC history, surpassing Seattle Pacific alum Megan Lienhard. Among Falcons in the GNAC top 20 for points, Huessers now ranks seventh. The game-winning goal was the 11th game-winner of her career, becoming the 10th player in GNAC history to do so.

Olivia Brock (CU) - Olivia Brock played 90 minutes, saved three shots and didn’t allow any goals in Concordia’s two shutout wins at home. Brock now has a .908 save percentage, improving on what was already a conference record. Her goals against average also dropped down to .497, placing Brock at fourth in conference history in the category.

Daniele Ortiz (NNU) - Through three games, Ortiz has recorded 19 saves to reach 252 career saves. The Crusader become the 14th player in conference history to reach 250 saves. Ortiz has led the conference in saves in each of the last two seasons, and her 19 saves lead the conference so far.

Seattle Pacific - The Falcons have scored a goal in each of their last 11 regular season matches and as a result have gone 9-1-1 during that span. Meanwhile, Seattle Pacific has shutout its opponents six times during that stretch. The Falcons have shutout their opponents in each of their last five regular season matches and has an active streak of 495:16 shutout minutes in regular season matches.

Western Washington - The Vikings opened their seaon at home with a 3-0 win agianst Academy of Art, which was the team’s 13th consecutive win at home and improved WWU’s unbeaten streak at home to 34 matches, which is just 10 shy of the record set by Seattle Pacific in 2010. The Vikings have also won or tied all of its last 19 contests against teams within the West Region, including a 0-0 tie against No. 24 Sonoma State in the season opener.

Concordia - The Cavaliers have won nine out of 10 home matches since joining the GNAC and are unbeaten in all 10. Before joining the GNAC, Concordia was already on a 24-match unbeaten streak at home, meaning the streak is now at a total of 34, including the NAIA matches.

Montana State Billings - The Yellowjackets have won both of their last two contests in Billings, Montana last season. MSU Billings will look to continue that winning streak on the Yellowjacket Soccer Field as it welcomes San Francisco State for the squad’s home opener. San Francisco State defeated the Yellowjackets 2-1 last season in the Golden Gate City.