Friday, November 22, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. – Just like its female counterpart, the Western Washington men’s soccer team captured the GNAC title for the third time and the first since 2008.

Western Washington dominated in conference play, finishing with a 10-1-1 record (13-4-1 overall). The Vikings’ historic 2019 GNAC campaign included an eight-match winning streak and a 10-match unbeaten streak. As a team, the Vikings totaled 102 points and outscored their opponents 35-14.

The Vikings led the conference with 10 players selected to the All-Conference Team, including three first-teamers in junior midfielder Georg Cholewa, junior defender Camron Miller and senior defender Jeremiah Lee. Lee was also named the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year after anchoring a Viking defense that topped the conference in goals allowed (14), shutouts (eight) and goals against average (0.76). Lee earned GNAC Defensive Player of the Week honors twice in his senior campaign.

Senior forwards Chrisitan Rotter and Ryan Schaefer both earned Second Team All-GNAC honors. Rotter is tied for the GNAC lead with Cholewa with nine assists while Schaefer is tied for second in the conference with nine goals.

Sophomore midfielder Gus Diehl and freshman goalkeeper Brandon Locke also earned second-team honors. Diehl started in all 18 matches for the Vikings while Locke solidified himself as the everyday goalkeeper, finishing the regular season atop the conference with seven shutouts, an .891 save percentage and a 0.39 goals against average.

Sophomore defender Teagan Eldridge, senior defender Nick Morgan and junior midfielder Drew Farnsworth were named honorable mentions for the Vikings.

Locke, Cholewa and Miller were also selected to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-West Region Second Team while Lee joined Saint Martin’s senior forward Brandon Madsen on the All-West Region First Team. Lee and Madsen will now move forward for consideration for the D2CCA All-America Team, which will be announced on Dec. 11.

After winning the GNAC title, the Vikings earned the conference’s automatic berth to the postseason and were selected as the No. 6 seed in Super Region 4. The Vikings will play at No. 3 seed St. Mary’s (Texas) at 5 p.m. on Saturday in a second-round match in the regional bracket. If the Vikings defeat the Rattlers, they will advance to face the winner between No. 2 seed Cal State LA and No. 10 seed Midwestern State.