Saturday, October 27, 2018

PORTLAND – For the sixth time in the past seven years, Western Washington sits on top of the GNAC women's soccer table after the completion of regular season play. Using a 2-1 victory at Montana State Billings while also receiving some help elsewhere, the Vikings captured the conference's regular-season title and No. 1 seed heading into the 2018 GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships in Portland.

Western Washington finished the regular season with 31 points to climb to the top of the league standings. The Vikings, paced by forwards Gabriela Pelogi and Dayana Diaz (15 points and seven goals apiece), fly into the GNAC Championships winners of six straight matches to close regular season competition.

Concordia is headed back to the GNAC Championships in just its fourth season as a conference member. Head coach Grant Landy's team has been led by forward Kyra Radcliffe, who totaled 19 points on seven goals in the regular season.

The Cavaliers, who will host next week's event, enter the tournament as the No. 2 seed. Concordia capped its regular season with a 1-1 draw against third-place Seattle Pacific on Saturday. 

No. 2 CU will play third-seeded Seattle Pacific in Thursday's second semifinal match at 7 p.m. The Falcons are making their seventh GNAC Championships appearance in the tournament's seven-year history.

Seattle Pacific clinched a postseason appearance back on Oct. 20 with its 4-0 shutout of Montana State Billings. Finishing with 25 points, SPU finished tied with Simon Fraser for third place, using the away goals tiebreaker to earn the third seed. Thursday's semifinal will be a rematch of Saturday's regular season finale between the Cavaliers and Seattle Pacific.

The Falcons finished the regular season with a record of 12-4-2 (8-3-1 GNAC). They were led by sophomore Sophia Chilczuk, who totaled 19 points with eight goals and three assists this season.

Making their second trip to the championships in the past three years, the Clan are almost as hot as their semifinal opponent in Western Washington. The club finished the regular season at 10-5-1 (8-3-1 GNAC) and will battle their border rival in Thursday's first match at 4 p.m.

Simon Fraser has been led by an explosive offensive attack in 2018, with midfielder Jenna-lee Baxter leading the way. Baxter has tallied 32 points on 11 goals, while junior Emma Pringle has matched her teammate's 11 goals to go along with a pair of assists.

Online tickets are available now through Oct. 31. Tickets can be purchased at GNACTickets.com.

CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Thursday, Nov. 1
4 p.m.: Semifinal #1 - No. 1 Western Washington vs. No. 4 Simon Fraser
7 p.m.: Semifinal #2 - No. 2 Concordia vs. No. 3 Seattle Pacific

Saturday, Nov. 3
3:30 p.m.: Championship Match