Thursday, November 9, 2023
by Thomas Lal

Ellensburg, Wash. – It was a red letter day for the Red Leafs in Ellensburg as No. 4 seed Simon Fraser punched its ticket to the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships final for the first time in program history with a resounding 4-2 win over No. 1 seed Seattle Pacific.

“It feels amazing,” Simon Fraser interim head coach Carlo Basso said after his side became the first No. 4 seed to eliminate a No. 1 seed in tournament history. “That’s a top, top team SPU has there. Nationally ranked, undefeated in the conference all year. We knew it was going to be extremely difficult, but the group was prepared. We prepared for them last week, made adjustments this week, and the ladies really stepped up. We’ve talked a lot about wanting to be like programs like SPU, that have a winning tradition, and that today was a really important moment for our group to really step up and have a historic win for our program and university.”

The scoring came early and often as Simon Fraser netted three goals in the first half to write itself into the record books to win its first match in program history at the GNAC Championships. The stunning offensive performance was led by junior forward and reigning GNAC Newcomer of the Year Mikayla Tupper with her second brace of the season.

It was Tupper who opened the scoring for SFU in just the third minute, catching an arcing pass from outside of the box by sophomore forward Kaiden Sherwood and punching it over SPU goalkeeper Mercedes Cullen while evading a Falcons defender on her shoulder. The goal would set the tone for a first frame where the Red Leafs outshot the Falcons 9-6 while sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Loewen made three saves. Loewen finished with nine saves, improving to 7-5-5 on the season.

As the first half progressed, the Red Leafs looked to have the jump on SPU in transition as Tupper took another solid crack at goal in the 11th minute. The momentum would pay off for the Red Leafs in a big way as they doubled their lead in the 35th minute after picking up the ball from an errant Seattle Pacific clearance. Freshman forward Kiera Scott worked her way deep into the box on the left wing before firing a pass back against the grain to an open Kate Cartier to rifle a shot past Cullen and put the Red Leafs up 2-0.

“I couldn’t be more proud,” Cartier said of the team’s performance after the match. “Just of this team to do it with the group of girls that we have. Just the things we’ve gone through to create the culture and environment that we’ve created. Each and every day we work so hard to get to where we are and we had no doubt in our minds that we could do it from the very beginning. It’s been a crazy season. We have a whole new team, new coaches, new staff and honestly I couldn’t be happier every day. This is exactly where we all want to be and I think we have a really good run ahead of us.”

Simon Fraser notched its third unanswered goal of the half just under three minutes later as freshman defender Noémie Ntumba Merlen scored the first goal of her collegiate career for what would eventually stand as the game-winner. A costly turnover by Cullen to the SFU frontline allowed Merlen to jump into the attack, picking the ball up on the right flank and taking it all the way into the box herself before shooting the ball past a diving Cullen.

The Falcons refused to go quietly, however, threatening down the stretch and earning all four corner kicks of the game as they pushed the Red Leafs back on their heels late in the half. It was freshman midfielder Andie Buckley who eventually put SPU on the board on one of those corner kicks, taking a short pass from sophomore forward Kayla Wallace before putting it past Loewen to break the shutout in the 43rd minute.

The second half saw what appeared to be a cool and collected Simon Fraser side. While Seattle Pacific was able to control the early play, the Falcons failed to capitalize on the runs they were able to make. The Red Leafs’ defense was particularly adept at regaining control in the middle of its own half, using their wing-back outlets to strong effect. Tupper picked up her second goal of the night in the 73rd minute as a close-range shot from freshman forward Sarah Caravatta turned into a rebound chance that Tupper easily finished.

The Falcons would pick up on more goal from leading GNAC scorer Jacqueline Blakeley on a Taylor Krueger cross before the final whistle blew, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Red Leafs from storming the field in victory. The win sends Simon Fraser onto the GNAC Women’s Soccer Championships final on Saturday at 1 p.m. where it will face No. 2 seed Western Washington. Meanwhile, GNAC regular season champion Seattle Pacific will have to wait until Monday to see if it receives a berth to the NCAA Championships.