Saturday, October 22, 2011

Kellie Zakrzewski scored a pair of first-half goals starting Seattle Pacific on its way to a 3-0 win at Western Oregon Saturday.

The Falcons (13-2, 10-1) need just one win in their final three games to capture their third consecutive GNAC championship and clinch their eighth consecutive NCAA Division II playoff berth.

Montana State Billings and Western Washington also posted victories Saturday. The Yellowjackets moved back into second place with a last-second 2-1 win at Simon Fraser.

Western Washington scored twice in each half in a 4-0 home win over Northwest Nazarene.

Zakrzewski posted her third multi-goal performance in the last five games. She also tallied two goals against Western Washington (Oct. 15) and Central Washington (Oct. 7).

Zakrzewski scored SPU's first goal at 27:05 off a GNAC-leading eighth assist from Kelsey Jenkins.

A quick give-and-go pass set up a one-on-one situation with the WOU goalkeeper and Zakrzewski capitalized by slipping the ball inside the left post.

An unassisted goal at 37:26 was Zakrzewski's eighth, tying her with Megan Lindsay for the team lead. She gathered a loose ball in the goalmouth and pushed it in from six yards out.

Mackenzie Laird got the lone second-half goal. She first-timed a curving, 17-yard shot into the upper right corner at 67:37 for her third score of the season. Brandi Hamre was credited with an assist.

Goalkeeper Brooke Yokers registered her fourth consecutive shutout. She recorded three of her four saves in the first half for the Falcons, who blanked their 10th opponent.

Brittney Rigtrup had seven saves for the Wolves (5-7-3, 4-5-2), who were outshot 17-10.

All three goals in Montana State Billings' win at Simon Fraser came in the final 86 seconds of the contest in heavy fog.

The Jackets broke through at 88:34 when Kristen Kastelic got her head on the ball and beat SFU keeper Amelia Ng.

Simon Fraser, however, quickly leveled the contest, as Lia Marining scored on a corner kick with 14 seconds left in regulation.

MSUB then just barely beat the game clock as Whitney Siler sent a perfect ball into Jaucelyn Richter and Richter blasted a shot past Ng with just one second remaining. It was her eighth goal of the season.

The Yellowjackets controlled the shot count with a 15-10 edge. They also took seven of the nine corner kicks. MSUB goalie Danielle Gordon had three saves, while Ng had seven.

Freshman forward Taylor Abrass scored her first collegiate goal and had an assist in Western Washington's victory.

WWU, which had a 26-9 advantage in shots, ran its unbeaten streak against the Crusaders to 17 (16-0-1) and upped its series advantage to 23-1-1. The Vikings' only loss to NNU came in 2003.

Katie Stauffer opened the scoring in the 18th minute, putting a shot inside the far post after taking a cross from Brian Sych.

Less than 12 minutes later, Joanna Houplin tapped the ball in from 10 yards. Kim Cooper earned the assist.

In the 73rd minute, Abrass got a through ball from Kelly Cates at midfield and scored after a long run.

Megan Chapin scored in the final minute as Brianna Jones connected on a long pass to Abrass, who crossed to Chapin for the tap-in goal.

WWU goalkeeper Jamie Arthurs made four saves in registering her eighth shutout of the season.