September 22, 2008
LACEY, Wash. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons didn't need long to bounce back from their first loss of the season.
Just two days after dropping a 1-0 decision at Western Washington in their Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener, the fourth-ranked Falcons, on a goal by senior
Shannon Oakes late in the 79th minute, blanked Saint Martin's 1-0 on Monday afternoon.
"It was a one-sided game. They are a pretty good team and we totally dominated today," described Falcons coach
Chuck Sekyra. "We played much better than we did on Saturday. I'm pretty happy with how we played."
Senior
Meredith Teague (Redmond, Wash./Bellevue Christian) set up the first goal of the season for Oakes (Boise, Idaho), which came at 78:50. Seattle Pacific leveled its conference record at 1-1 and raised its overall mark to 7-1-1. The Saints fell to 1-1-0 in GNAC play, 3-5-0 overall.
The ball was down in the corner and bounced off a traffic jam of players out to Teague. She sent it to Oakes, who was positioned right in front of the net to slam it home. Teague's assist was her team-leading sixth of the season, to go along with four goals.
Oakes was participating in just her second game of the season. The three-year starter returned to action Saturday after being sidelined the first seven games due to a knee injury suffered during preseason practice.
"I'm so happy for Shannon," Sekyra exclaimed. "She just played so well and gave our team extra confidence. She is a great possession player and a real rhythm player. Shannon really settles our team down."
SPU dominated the run of play and had several dangerous chances, including one five-shot, first-half flurry that saw three attempts carom off the crossbar. Junior forward
Jocelyn Charette (Lakewood, Wash./Curtis) had back-to-back boots bounce off the bar.
The Falcons had a decided advantage in shots, 22-5, with 14 of those coming after halftime. They also had three of their four corner kicks during the second 45 minutes of play. Saint Martin's had two corner kicks for the day.
For the second straight game, an opposing goalkeeper recorded 10 saves. The Saints Ashley Engel was the culprit Monday as she, and the crossbar, kept her team in contention.
SPU's junior goalkeeper
Jesslyn Rahm (Eugene, Ore.) made two saves to earn her third shutout and the team's sixth. She has allowed only three goals in five games, and lowered her goals-against average to 0.55.
The Falcons have blanked five of the last six opponents and surrendered just one goal during their last 576 minutes of play.
The SPU women return to action on Saturday at Montana State Billings for a GNAC game that starts at noon Pacific Time.
NCAA Women's Soccer
Regional Athletic Complex; Lacey, Wash.
Monday, Sept. 22, 2008
(#4) Seattle Pacific 1, Saint Martin's 0
Scoring --1, SPU,
Shannon Oakes (
Meredith Teague), 78:50.
Shots -- SPU 22, SMU 5.
Saves -- SPU (Jessalyn Rahm) 2, SMU (Ashley Engel) 10).
Corner kicks -- SPU 4, SMU 2.
Fouls -- SPU 4, SMU 15.
Records -- Seattle Pacific 7-1-1, 1-1-0 GNAC, Saint Martin's 3-5-0, 1-1-0 GNAC.
