Thursday, October 27, 2016

Western Washington faced two big tests last week, playing Seattle Pacific and Central Washington, and the Vikings passed with flying colors to win an unprecedented fifth consecutive GNAC title.

The Vikings went on the road to defeat the No. 5-ranked team in the West Region, Seattle Pacific, 4-0 for the team’s 14th consecutive win. Two days later, WWU hosted the No. 3 team in the West Region in Central Washington and came away with a 4-1 win to clinch the GNAC title and set the all-time GNAC record for consecutive home victories at 23.

Before that match, Central Washington had already clinched its spot in the GNAC Championships thanks to a 1-0 win by Simon Fraser over Concordia on an 85th minute goal by Emma Pringle. It wasn’t Pringle’s only game-winning goal as she did it again on Saturday in the 29th minute against Western Oregon to earn the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week honor.

Those goals two goals put SFU in great position to qualify for the GNAC Championships, which will be hosted on the Clan’s home Terry Fox Field. The Clan needs to claim just four points on the road this week to guarantee a spot in the tournament for the first time in program history. Concordia and Seattle Pacific are also contending for the final two spots left in Burnaby. They will play each other on Saturday for the final regular season match in the GNAC, hosted by the Cavaliers at 6 p.m. (Pacific).

GNAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

OFFENSE
Emma Pringle, Simon Fraser
F • 5-8 • Freshman • North Vancouver, B.C.
Pringle chipped in the game-winner in a pair of a 1-0 victories for the Clan. She scored in the 85th minute in Thursday’s home win over Concordia and netted the winner in the 29th minute on Saturday at Western Oregon. Pringle enters the week leading the GNAC with nine goals and five game-winning goals.

Also Nominated: Taylor Higa (Western Oregon), Cassandra Clarke (Northwest Nazarene), Jordan Devoto (Montana State Billings), Lauren Allison (Saint Martin’s), Caitlyn Jobanek (Western Wash.)

DEFENSE
Emily Webster, Western Washington
M • 5-6 • Junior • Bellingham, Wash.
Webster keyed the defense for the No. 1 ranked Vikings in a pair of victories. She had an assist in the Vikings’ 4-0 shutout at Seattle Pacific and helped limit Central Washington to just six shots in a 4-1 victory on Saturday.

Also Nominated: Caitlin Kastelic (Western Oregon), Daniele Ortiz (Northwest Nazarene), Ali Koehler (Saint Martin’s), Olivia Brock (Concordia)

GNAC MILESTONE TRACKER

Hannah Huesers (SPU) - The Falcon scored twice against Montana State Billings to reach 41 career goals, becoming the seventh player in GNAC history to score 40 career goals. The senior now has 90 career points, which ranks ninth in GNAC history. Huesers also has recorded 199 career shots. Her next shot will make her the 15th player in GNAC history to take 200 career shots. In conference matches only, she has scored 29 goals and recorded 64 points. Huesers surpassed Western Washington graduate Catherine Miles (2012-15) in both categories to rank third in goals scored and fourth in points for conference matches only.

Ashley Homer (WWU) - In just her first year in the GNAC, Homer is already looking to put her name in the record books as she looks to break a record that has stood for more than a decade. In 2003, Seattle Pacific’s Jennifer Hull allowed just six goals in 1,781 minutes. This year, Homer has allowed just four goals in 1,393 minutes between the posts. Homer’s has the No. 2 goals against average in the nation at 0.258. Homer has received a lot of help from her defense. She has only had to make 1.38 saves this year, which is less than half of any starting goalkeeper in the conference.

Daniele Ortiz (NNU) - The Crusader made six saves this week to reach 314 career saves. Earlier this year, she became the seventh player in conference history to reach 300 career saves. Ortiz is just one save away from tying for sixth most saves in conference history. She also has 228 career saves in conference matches, which ranks fifth all time.

Western Washington - Playing two regionally-ranked teams last week didn’t slow down Western Washington, which outscored Seattle Pacific and Central Washington 8-1 to clinch the GNAC title and set the conference record for most consecutive home wins at 23. The win over CWU also tied the conference record for longest regular season home unbeaten streak at 40. The Vikings do not have another scheduled home match this year, but could host the NCAA West Regional Tournament in a couple weeks. The Vikings are unbeaten in their last 40 conference matches and have scored a goal in 29 consecutive matches against conference opponents. The records for those categories are 47 and 36 respectively, which were both set by Seattle Pacific in 2006. Including playoff matches, the Vikings now have a 32-match unbeaten streak against West Region opponents.

AROUND THE GNAC

CENTRAL WASHINGTON
• Central Washington became the second team to clinch a spot in the GNAC Championships after Simon Fraser defeated Concordia last Thursday.
• The Wildcats need to win one of their two matches this week to secure the No. 2 seed at the GNAC Championships.
• Central Washington defeated Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and lost to No. 1 Western Washington on Saturday.
• Following the loss to Western Washington, CWU dropped to No. 4 in the NCAA West Region Rankings, which help determine which six teams will advance to the NCAA West Regional Tournament.
• The Wildcats are receiving votes in the NSCAA Division II Coaches Poll. They received six votes, which is tied for the most of any team outside the top 25.
• Mackenzie Nolte assisted both goals in the 2-0 win against Northwest Nazarene to become the eighth player in the conference this year with a multi-assist game. They were her first two assists of the season.
• Central Washington’s 30 goals have been scored by 14 different players. Keilin Farrand has played a part in the most goals with five goals and five assists. Abby Litka was the most recent player to get in on the scoring with the only goal for CWU against Western Washington. She is only the fifth player all year to score a goal against WWU.
• Goalkeeper Emily Holt helped the team record its sixth shutout of the season, which is tied for fourth most in the conference.
• Central Washington will travel to Concordia on Thursday and then wrap up the regular season at Saint Martin’s on Saturday.

CONCORDIA
• Concordia will have to go through Central Washington and Seattle Pacific at home on its road to Burnaby. The Cavaliers need at least three points to have a shot at advancing to the GNAC Championships, but they will need some help even if they win both matches.
• Concordia dropped its only match last week on an 85th-minute goal by Emma Pringle, which bumped the Cavs down to fifth in the GNAC Standings.
• Since winning all of their first seven matches, Concordia suffered a pair of key injuries and have only won two matches since then, going 2-3-3.
• Olivia Brock has a career save percentage 0.899, which is still the GNAC record. Her goals against average is 0.543, which ranks fifth in conference history.
• Concordia is ranked No. 9 in the NSCAA West Region rankings, but is not eligible to be ranked in the NCAA West Region Rankings.
• This week, Concordia will host Central Washington in the only meeting of the two programs this year. Last year, the two teams split their meetings with Central Washington winning the latter encounter 1-0.
• Concordia will wrap up the regular season against Seattle Pacific, possibly with a spot in the GNAC Championships on the line. The two teams met in the GNAC Championships last year and Seattle Pacific won on a golden goal in the 109th minute. When they met this year, it ended in a 1-1 draw in Seattle.

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
• Despite earning a 3-3 tie with Seattle Pacific on Saturday, the Yellowjackets fell out of contention for the GNAC Championships after earning the No. 4 seed last year.
• Montana State Billings will wrap up its season at home against Simon Fraser on Thursday and Western Washington on Saturday.
• After getting off to a slow start in non-conference play, MSUB turned its season around with the start of conference play, earning seven points in the first three matches. The Yellowjackets got their third win of the season with an upset of Simon Fraser, when Kylee Wolfe scored her first goal of the season in the first overtime period.
• Dana Lubieniecki leads the MSUB offense with five goals and two assists. Jordan Devoto added three goals of her own and assisted on another.
• Alexa Iacolucci has taken a team-high 30 shots and has assisted on one goal this season. She put 16 of her shots on frame.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE
• Northwest Nazarene defeated Saint Martin’s on Saturday for its second win of the season, marking the third consecutive year with multiple conference victories.
• Cassandra Clarke scored the game-winning goal against SMU in the 85th minute off a corner kick. It was her first goal of the season and Madi Taylor was credited with her first assist of the season.
• On Thursday, NNU lost to Central Washington 2-0.
• Daniele Ortiz was the seventh player in GNAC history to record 300 career saves and ranks fifth in conference history in saves with 314.
• Taylor as a team-best four goals this year, which ranks ninth in the conference this season.
• The Crusaders will wrap up their season at home hosting No. 1 Western Washington on Thursday and Simon Fraser on Saturday.

SAINT MARTIN’S
• Saint Martin’s claimed a shutout victory against Montana State Billings on Saturday for the Saints’ second win of the season.
• Lauren Allison scored the game-winning goal against MSUB for her third goal of the season. Sara Massee got the assist, sending a corner kick to the far post.
• The Saints lost their next two matches against Northwest Nazarene and Western Oregon. Hannah Frakes scored her fifth goal of the season in the 33rd minute against the Wolves before they scored two second-half goals.
• After allowing 30 goals in an eight-match span, the Saints allowed just three goals in the three matches last week.
• Saint Martin’s will host Montana State Billings and Northwest Nazarene this week in search of the team’s second conference victory of 2016.
• Saint Martin’s will play its final match of the season at home on Saturday against Central Washington.

SEATTLE PACIFIC
• Seattle Pacific can clinch its spot in the GNAC Championships for the fifth year in a row with four points this week or a win at Concordia in the regular season finale.
• The Falcons will be in Oregon this week, playing at Western Oregon on Thursday and Concordia on Saturday.
• Seattle Pacific lost 4-0 to No. 1 Western Washington on Thursday and then tied Montana State Billings 3-3 on Saturday to get into a tie for third place with Simon Fraser in the GNAC standings.
• Seattle Pacific dropped to No. 7 in the NCAA West Region Rankings, which help determine which six teams will advance to the West Region Tournament.
• Hannah Huesers scored her eighth and ninth goals of the season against Montana State Billings. The senior now needs seven more goals this season to tie GNAC records for career goals and career goals in conference matches. She has nine career multi-goal games, which is two behind the all-time GNAC record.  Huesers also has 14 career multi-point games, which is tied for 11th most in conference history.
• Simone Herzberg has four assists this year, which is one shy of the conference leader.
• Seattle Pacific has scored 24 goals this season and 16 different players have played a part in those goals either scoring or assisting them. Julia DeVere became the 16th different player to do so, scoring the third goal in the win against Simon Fraser on Oct. 15.

SIMON FRASER
• Simon Fraser needs four points this week to clinch a spot in the GNAC Championships for the first time in program history.
• The Clan will travel to Montana State Billings on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday to wrap up the regular season.
• The Clan got two crucial wins against Concordia and Western Oregon last week, winning both matches on game-winning goals by freshman Emma Pringle. She was named GNAC Offensive Player of the Week and is tied for the conference lead in goals with nine.
• Pringle scored the game-winning goal against Concordia in the 85th minute to get into a tie with the Cavaliers in the conference standings. Pringle came through again for the Clan with a goal against Western Oregon for a 1-0 victory and three more points in the standings to move into a tie for third place.
• The Clan has the 14th best RPI in the West Region among playoff-eligible teams. The RPI helps determine rankings for the NCAA Regional Rankings. Six teams from the West Region will advance to the West Regional tournament.
• Simon Fraser has nine shutouts this season, which is the 14th best shutout percentage in Division II. Priya Sandhu has been credited with eight of those shutouts, which is the second most in the conference.
• Monpreet Heer scored two goals and assisted on two others against Western Oregon. Her six points stands as the GNAC single-game high for 2016.
• Half of the team’s goals have been scored by freshmen with Heer and Pringle combining for 11 of the 22 goals.
• Simon Fraser has taken nearly twice as many shots as its opponents, outshooting opponents 246-125 in 14 matches this season.

WESTERN OREGON
• Western Oregon got its second win of the year with a 2-1 victory against Saint Martin’s on Tuesday.
• Dani Payne and Sydney Thomas each scored their first goals of the season in the second half for the come-from-behind victory.
• Taylor Higa assisted the game-tying goal. She now has seven goals and four assists. She has played a part in a total of 11 goals this season, which is the best in the GNAC.
• Caitlyn Kastelic has recorded 6.88 saves per match, which ranks 25th in Division II.
• The Wolves will wrap up their season on Thursday when they host Seattle Pacific.

WESTERN WASHINGTON
• Western Washington is the 2016 GNAC regular season champion after winning all of its first 10 conference matches, including wins over Seattle Pacific and Central Washington last week.
• It is the fifth consecutive conference title for the Vikings, which is the most consecutive GNAC titles won by any women’s soccer program.
• In the 4-1 win against Central Washington, the Vikings claimed their 23rd consecutive home victory, breaking the all-time GNAC record set by Seattle Pacific in 2004.
• For the second week in a row, Western Washington is ranked No. 1 in the first NCAA West Region Rankings. Those rankings help determine which teams will advance to the NCAA tournament.
• Western Washington has won or tied its last 32 matches against West Region opponents.
• The Vikings tied the conference record for longest regular season home unbeaten streak at 40 with the win against CWU.
• Since tying Sonoma State in the season-opener, Western Washington has won 15 straight contests, earning the second best winning percentage in the nation.
• For the third week in a row, Western Washington is ranked No. 1 in the nation in the NSCAA Coaches Poll after having never previously been ranked No. 1 in program history.
• No team puts pressure on opposing goalkeepers like Western Washington. The Vikings have taken 23.5 shots per match this season, which is seven more than any other team in the conference has. They have outshot their oppponents 376-103.
• Goalkeeper Ashley Homer has helped the Vikings record 12 shutouts in 16 matches, which is the third best shutout percentage in the nation. Meanwhile, her 0.258 goals against average ranks second in Division II and is on pace to break the single-season GNAC record set in 2003 by Jennifer Hull for SPU.
• Since the start of the 2012 season, Western Washington has been the toughest team to beat in the GNAC putting together a record of 91-9-7 (.883). The Vikings are also 58-3-4 (.923) during that span in conference play.
• The Vikings lead the conference in every team statistic except saves.
• Caitlyn Jobanek and Elise Aylward both have seven goals and three assists, while Gabriela Pelogi has five goals and five assists.