November 22, 2008
Janae Godoy punched Seattle Pacific's ticket to the Final Four with a 55th-minute goal Saturday in a 1-0 victory over host Truman State during the quarterfinal round of NCAA Division II women's soccer tournament at Truman Soccer Park.
The fourth-ranked Falcons (20-1-2) will compete in the Final Four for the third time in the last four years. SPU has a semifinal meeting with the winner of Sunday's game between No. 7 Metro State and No. 8 Wisconsin-Parkside.
The national semifinals are scheduled for Dec. 4 at Pepin Stadium in Tampa, Fla., where the championship game will be played on Dec. 6.
The Falcons advanced to the 2005 NCAA championship game and lost last season in the national semifinals.
“We need to go there and get it done this year,” exclaimed sixth-year SPU coach
Chuck Sekyra. “I'm excited to take this team there, because they have proven they can get through anything and they are ready for anything.”
The Falcons bring a 15-game unbeaten streak into the semifinals, having outscored opponents by a combined 48-5 margin during that span.
Godoy (Yakima, Wash./West Valley) continued a recent hot streak, registering her fourth game-winning goal in the last five games. The junior midfielder also scored the decisive tally in the Falcons first tournament victory, a 3-1 decision against UC San Diego on Nov. 15 in Seattle. She has a goal or assist in seven of the last nine outings.
Sekyra credited a change in position for Godoy's recent success.
“She has just been playing with a lot of confidence. A lot of it is because we moved her out of defensive center midfield and she likes playing left center mid more. We're better when she's in the attack,” he said. “Janae was absolutely amazing today. She covered so much ground and worked so hard.”
One of the few games Godoy did not factor into the scoring was Thursday's 1-0 double-overtime victory over No. 12 Western Washington. SPU got a golden goal from
Meredith Teague with 4:27 left in the final overtime to win the West Region title and set up this showdown with South Central champion Truman (17-4-2).
As she did in Thursday's triumph, sophomore
Jocelyn Charette (Lakewood, Wash./Curtis) assisted on the lone goal. She received a high throw-in near the end line, eight yards from the right post, and kicked it over her head across the goalmouth. Godoy raced to the left post and volleyed it in from two yards out at 54:47.
Godoy admits that her seventh goal of the season wasn't the most skillful, but it was the most important.
“I got my leg on it. It was not pretty, but it went in there,” she explained. “Jocelyn worked hard to get there and she just flicked it over her head. The keeper missed it completely and it was just me and the other girl and I ran it into the goal. I wanted to make sure it went in so I just put my body into it.”
The game was scoreless in the first half despite a 10-3 shooting advantage for SPU. Two of the first-half shots for the 22nd-ranked Bulldogs were on frame, requiring
Maddie Dickinson (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview) to make her only saves of the game.
SPU's sophomore goalkeeper posted her second straight playoff shutout. Dickinson blanked nine opponents this season and the team has 16 shutouts.
The goal came on the first attempt of the second half by either team. SPU outshot the Bulldogs 19-8 for the game.
Truman goalkeeper Jayne Grisham was credited with five saves.
“I'm really proud of my team. We had to overcome a lot of things,” Sekyra stated. “This is the first Seattle Pacific women's soccer team to ever go to the Final Four without hosting all the way through.
“We did this on the road. We overcame the weather, the difficult conditions with a choppy, frozen field, the travel and the opponent's fans. They were all over us and it was a very hostile place.”
Don't expect the Falcons to be content with just a Final Four berth.
“The one thing that we have learned is that you have to want it more than any other team that shows up there,” Sekyra learned from the two previous national semifinals appearances. “If we do, I think this team will come home with a national championship.”
NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament
Quarterfinal Game
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Truman Soccer Park; Kirksville, Mo.
(#4) Seattle Pacific 1, (#22) Truman State 0
Scoring -- 1, SPU,
Janae Godoy (
Jocelyn Charette), 54:47.
Shots – SPU 19, TSU 8.
Saves – SPU 2 (
Maddie Dickinson), TSU 5 (Jayne Grisham).
Corner kicks – SPU 4, TSU 1.
Fouls – SPU 12, TSU 15.
Offsides – SPU 1, TSU 0.
Attendance – 480.
Records --
Seattle Pacific 20-1-2
Truman State 17-4-2
