• Box score, play-by-play
SEATTLE – Despite the fact it gives them control of their conference championship destiny, the Falcons were not happy with Wednesday's tie.
Brandi Hamre scored seven minutes into the game for the sixth-ranked Seattle Pacific women, but Western Washington got the equalizer from Lucy Miller midway through the second half to forge a 1-1 double-overtime soccer tie at Interbay Stadium.
The outcome kept Western (10-4-3) atop the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with 23 points on a 7-1-2 record. SPU (14-2-1) has a 7-1-1 league ledger, trailing by one point with one game in hand.
“I'm disappointed,” said Coach Chuck Sekyra of the draw. “But things are in our hands still and we want to keep them there. If we win our last three games we are conference champs.”
With victories in their final three games SPU can accumulate nine points, while the Vikings only have six points available from their two games.
The Falcons have won five of the eight titles since the GNAC began sponsoring women's soccer. However, they did not win the conference crown last year. SPU did capture the bigger prize, the NCAA Division II championship.
Wednesday marked the second straight year the teams played to a deadlock at Interbay after the defending league champion Vikings took the first game of the season series in Bellingham. WWU beat the Falcons by a 3-2 score on Oct. 3.
“We just didn't finish our opportunities because we definitely didn't want to settle for a tie,” said Hamre. “We wanted it really bad. I know all of us are pretty upset about the tie and I think we should have capitalized on the opportunities that we had.”
The one opportunity the Falcons did finish came 7:03 into the game off the foot of Hamre (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS), a sophomore forward.
Senior forward Jocelyn Charette (Lakewood, Wash./Curtis HS) started the scoring play by getting the ball ahead to Hamre down the right wing side. Hamre gained control, got around a Vikings defender and sent a 25-yard shot floating toward the left post. The ball eluded Western goalkeeper Kylie Broadbent and landed inside the back left corner midway up the net.
“I just got the ball from Jocelyn and brought it down. The defenders kind of parted for me and I saw the opening and I took the shot,” Hamre described. “It felt like slow motion, just like parting the sea. It just got through.”
Hamre's goal was her third of the year, and Charette picked up her fifth assist. It ended Western's streak of four straight shutouts and 376 minutes without allowing a goal.
The Vikings tied the game on Miller's goal at 65:51, just 21 seconds after she re-entered the game. Under defensive pressure from SPU, Kelly Irving kept control of a throw-in near the goal line on the right side of the net. She slipped a pass across the goalmouth that was just out of Falcon goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson's reach. Miller got the ball in front of the left post and booted it into the open net for her second goal of the year.
Both teams had numerous other opportunities to get the game-winner during regulation.
Late in the first half, a header by SPU freshman Brittany Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) bounced off the crossbar. Early in the second half, another SPU freshman, Megan Lindsay (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep), was unable to reach a Charette pass that trickled across the goalmouth.
A blast by Falcons sophomore Jamie Wurth (La Mirada, Calif.) from 22 yards away with 5:05 left in the second and final overtime was denied with a brilliant diving save by Broadbent. The WWU goalkeeper stuck her arm out and stopped the shot with her wrist near the right post.
Broadbent was credited with seven saves for the Vikings, who were outshot by a 17-14 margin.
“At 1-0 we had a chance to put that game away. And then at the end their keeper makes a great save,” said Sekyra. “That's one of the better saves I've seen in a college soccer game, a ball bouncing like that off her forearm. I thought that ball would skip in still. How does a wrist keep that ball out of the net?”
Dickinson (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) was stellar in the other goal for SPU, coming up with six saves for the game. One of those was in the 16th minute when she stopped a point-blank shot by Molly Shannon from no more than a yard in front.
“Maddie's just solid all the time. Maddie's just consistent and we have so much faith in her,” Sekyra said. “Any ball in there we know she is going to hold. She's just been a rock in there and she gives our team a lot of confidence.”
SPU participated in its first overtime game of the season while the Vikings now have a 1-0-3 record in games that go into extra sessions. The Falcons outshot WWU 4-2 during the two, 10-minute overtimes.
The hard-fought overtime contest should be a good learning experience for the youthful Falcons as the NCAA Tournament approaches. Of the 14 players SPU used Wednesday, 11 of them were underclassmen. Six freshmen were among that group, including four rookie starters.
Western countered with a veteran starting lineup of nine upperclassmen, including six seniors.
According to Sekyra, the Vikings' wealth of experience was evident.
“You saw a team out there from Western that is heavily senior-laden and we're a very young team. I thought some of their senior leadership kind of stepped up tonight.
“That was definitely a tournament atmosphere. The intensity, the game could hinge on any little mistake that could happen, any shot has a chance. That was fun in that way. It was good soccer.”
The Falcons pursuit of the GNAC championship resumes on Saturday at noon when they visit Central Washington.
The SPU women close out the regular season next week with a road outing against Montana State Billings on Nov. 5 and a home game against Northwest Nazarene on Nov. 7.
NCAA Women's Soccer
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Interbay Stadium/Seattle, Wash.
#6 Seattle Pacific 1, Western Washington 1 (2ot)
Scoring -- 1, SPU, Brandi Hamre (Jocelyn Charette), 7:03. 2, WWU, Lucy Miller (Kelly Irving), 65:51.
Shots – WWU 14, SPU 17.
Saves – WWU 7 (Kylie Broadbent), SPU 6 (Maddie Dickinson).
Corner kicks – WWU 5, SPU 5.
Fouls – WWU 23, SPU 17.
Offsides – WWU 0, SPU 3.
Attendance -- 379.
Records –
Seattle Pacific 14-2-1, 7-1-1 GNAC.
Western Washington 10-4-3, 7-1-2 GNAC.
Next Game –
(#6) Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Saturday, Oct. 31, noon, Ellensburg, Wash.
