• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

SEATTLE – Brandi Hamre scored the first goal and assisted on the second Thursday and 14th-ranked Seattle Pacific took over sole possession of first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 3-0 women's soccer win over Northwest Nazarene at Interbay Stadium.

The Falcons (9-1-2) improved to 6-1-1 in conference play with 19 points. They entered the game tied atop the standings with Western Washington, which lost 2-1 at Saint Martin's.

Defending GNAC champion SPU puts its first-place standing on the line Saturday with a visit to second-place Montana State Billings. The Yellowjackets are just one point back of SPU with a 6-2-0 league ledger.



Thursday's game was scoreless for over 54 minutes before Hamre (Bremerton, Wash./Central Kitsap HS) finally found the net. Sophomore Kendall Thoreson (Seattle, Wash./King's HS) served a cross from the right flank to the center of the goalmouth. Hamre collected the ball, spun and sent a low 10-yard shot into the left side of the goal at 54:23.

That was the fifth goal of the season for the junior forward, tying her for the team lead with freshman Kellie Zakrzewski.

Hamre was on the other end of a scoring cross for the second SPU goal. She served the ball from the left wing and Kelsey Jenkins flicked it into the goal with her foot from four yards out at 71:21. That was the third goal of the year for Jenkins (Kent, Wash./Kentwood HS) on Hamre's team-leading sixth assist.

“In the first half we played really well. We got a lot of opportunities, but just seemed to be a little off,” Hamre said. “In the second half we just talked about breaking the offside trap that they play and getting our mids beyond us. Once we got that it really clicked and we were able to get the ball in and score.”

Sophomore Brittany Langdon (Irvine, Calif.) capped the scoring at 81:39, heading in a corner kick from Thoreson from eight yards away.

“I'm very pleased with the second half, to come out and get three goals in the half,” said SPU coach Chuck Sekyra. “We kept the ball a lot better in the second half and that's what we talked about at halftime, keeping the ball and opening the game up.”

Senior Maddie Dickinson (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) was credited with two saves en route to her eighth shutout of the season. She increased her school-record total to 27 career shutouts.

Goalkeeper Stacey Beckman kept the Crusaders in the contest early with eight saves, many of them on point-blank shots. Beckman faced a 20-shot SPU barrage while her Crusader teammates managed just four shots.

NNU dropped to 4-8-0 overall and 2-6-0 in GNAC play. The Crusaders were swept for the ninth straight season by SPU, which was a 2-0 victor on Sept. 18 in Nampa, Idaho. The Falcons own a 19-1 advantage in the all-time series.

“We always want to be better than the last game we played a team,” Sekyra said. “Last time we beat them 2-0 and this time we beat them 3-0, so I guess that qualifies.”

Saturday's game at Billings starts a three-game road trip for the Falcons. Their next home game is Oct. 28 against Western Oregon.




NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Interbay Stadium/Seattle, Wash.

#14 Seattle Pacific 3, Northwest Nazarene 0

Scoring – 1, SPU, Brandi Hamre (Kendall Thoreson), 54:23. 2, SPU, Kelsey Jenkins (Hamre), 71:21. 3, SPU, Brittany Langdon (Thoreson), 81:39.

Shots – NNU 20, SPU 4.
Saves – NNU 8 (Stacey Beckman), SPU 2 (Maddie Dickinson).
Corner kicks -- NNU 1, SPU 12.
Fouls – NNU 13, SPU 6.
Offsides – NNU 0, SPU 6.
Cautions – NNU 0, SPU 2 (Brittany Langdon, Andrea Chan).
Ejections – None.
Attendance – 296.

Records –
Seattle Pacific 9-1-2, 6-1-1 GNAC
Northwest Nazarene 4-8-0, 2-6-0 GNAC

Next game –
Seattle Pacific at Montana State Billings
Saturday, Oct. 16, 12 p.m. PST, Billings, Mont.