Monday, November 21, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – Western Washington continued its excellent postseason form to advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship with a 1-0 win over Concordia on Thursday to secure the West Regional title and a 3-1 victory over Colorado Mines on Friday in the NCAA quarterfinals. The convincing victories earned the Vikings GNAC Team of the Week honors.

Western Washington opened its week in Bellingham with a clinical 1-0 win over Concordia. Freshman of the Year and GNAC Championships MVP Morgan Manalili continued to prove herself as an offensive powerhouse, scoring the game-winner in just the fourth minute. Western Washington was able to play comfortably with the lead, controlling play through the midfield while continuing to generate scoring chances and outshot the Golden Eagles 12-6.

Senior goalkeeper Claire Henninger recorded her 11th shutout of the season on Thursday, only being forced to make one save while organizing the defense from the net. She ranks fifth in Division II in shutouts and 35th in the division with a .833 save percentage after the week’s matches.

The Vikings followed Thursday’s performance with an even more dominating match on Saturday where they scored twice in the opening 12 minutes on the way to a 3-1 win over Colorado Mines. Manalili halved the time it took her to score in the first match of the week when she nudged a bouncing ball into the back of the net in the second minute. The freshman midfielder has now scored five goals in her last six matches and leads the team with 10 on the season.

Only 10 minutes later, junior defender Jayden Nguyen scored her first goal of the season off a low cross from Estera Levinte to make the score 2-0. Levinte earned assists on both opening markers and leads the Vikings with eight on the year. Senior midfielder Tera Ziemer rounded out the scoring for WWU off a corner kick by freshman forward Emily Rice in the 35th minute to make the score 3-0 going into halftime.

While the Orediggers did manage to claw back one goal in the second frame, the Vikings continued to control much of the play and closed out their season at Harrington Field with the win to punch their ticket to the NCAA Fall Festival in Seattle.

“We’re playing some of our best soccer right now,” head coach Travis Connell said after the win on Saturday. “It’s a testament to the players who are just staying hungry, continuing to get better and they understand that this is a big moment. And they totally have risen to the occasion each of these challenges.”

With the final site reseeded following regional play, Western Washington (17-2-4) will head to Interbay Stadium as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 2 seed Columbus State (20-2-1) on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 8 p.m.