Thursday, November 17, 2016

GOLDEN, Colo. – The southern and northern tips of the United States’ West Coast will meet in Colorado for the NCAA Division II women’s soccer West Regional final as No. 1 Western Washington faces No. 2 UC San Diego on Friday at 2:30 p.m. (Mountain) at Colorado School of Mines.

It is the second meeting between the two squads this year after the Vikings (20-0-1) defeated the Tritons (19-2), 3-2 in Bellingham in September. Both teams have won every match they have played since that meeting and are both top-10 teams in the national rankings.

Western Washington has a 20-match winning streak, which is three away from the GNAC record set by Seattle Pacific in 2007. That is part of what is a 39-match unbeaten streak against all West Region opponents.

UC San Diego was eliminated by a GNAC team in the postseason last year as well, losing the penalty kick shootout in the first round to Seattle Pacific.

UC San Diego and Western Washington have met before at this stage of the NCAA tournament in 2012, where UC San Diego won 2-1 in overtime in Denver, Colo. In 2010, UC San Diego defeated Seattle Pacific 1-0 in the West Regional final in Austin, Tex. Overall, the Tritons are 4-1-2 against GNAC schools in the West Regional with the only loss coming in 2005 to Seattle Pacific. Against CCAA schools, Western Washington has a record of 4-3 in the West Regional.

The winner will go on to face the winner of the South Central Regional final, which features host Colorado Mines and Texas A&M Commerce. Colorado Mines won the quarterfinal match in 2014, but the West Region champion has beaten the South Central Region champion in each of the other eight quarterfinals in the last nine years.