• Complete Release (pdf)
     • LiveStats (both games)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28 --
Western Oregon at (#13) Seattle Pacific
7:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30 --
Saint Martin's at (#13) Seattle Pacific
4:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

LiveStats for Both Games: www.sidearmstats.com/spu/wsoc/index.htm

“It's in our hands, so we have to take care of business and take it one game at a time.”
      — SPU Coach Chuck Sekyra on the Falcons nearing the GNAC championship

The Seattle Pacific women's soccer team clinched the 2009 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship at home during the final game of the regular season. The 13th-ranked Falcons (12-1-2) can do it at home again this year, but they don't plan to wait for the final game. With three games remaining, SPU needs one more win to capture the championship and will look to get that this week when they host a pair of games at Interbay Stadium. The Falcons entertain Western Oregon (2-13-0, 1-10-0 GNAC) on Thursday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. and then Saint Martin's (6-9-0, 5-6-0 GNAC) on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. SPU concludes the regular season at home on Saturday, Nov. 6 against Central Washington.

GNAC Title Chase
The defending conference champion Falcons have a league-leading 28 points with a 9-1-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference ledger. Montana State Billings is second with 21 points and a 7-4-0 record. SPU needs just three more points (one win or three ties) in its final three games to clinch its eighth consecutive playoff berth and its seventh GNAC title in the past nine years. The Falcons were picked in the preseason by the league's coaches to repeat as GNAC champion. They captured the 2009 conference crown with a 9-2-1 record. SPU has won six of the nine all-time GNAC titles.

Ticket Talk
Tickets for SPU soccer games can be purchased on game day at Interbay Stadium (3027 17th Ave. W., Seattle 98119). Ticket windows open one hour prior to kickoff. All seats are general admission and priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. SPU students and staff are admitted free. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for reduced ticket rates by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

Follow the Action
Live stats will be available for both SPU women's soccer games this week and can be accessed via the internet at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/spu/wsoc

Playoff Pursuit
Seattle Pacific seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the eighth straight year. The Falcons won the 2008 national championship. Last season they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, battling Chico State to a scoreless tie before falling 4-3 in a penalty-kick tiebreaker. SPU advanced to the Final Four in three of the last five years.

Magnificent Maddie
On Oct. 2, goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson blanked Simon Fraser to become SPU's career shutout leader. She now has 27 career clean sheets, eclipsing the previous record of 25 established by Jennifer Hull from 2001-04. Dickinson has surrendered just eight goals in 1417 minutes this season. The product of Skyview High School in Vancouver, Wash. was the Sept. 14 GNAC Athlete of the Week. She currently leads the GNAC and ranks No. 20 nationally with a 0.51 goals against average. Dickinson put together a school-record scoreless streak of 1,012-minutes, 12-seconds from 2008-09 that included a 1-0 double-overtime win over West Florida in the 2008 NCAA Division II title game.

Throw-Ins
The Falcons won their last five games, outscoring foes 15-5 during that span ... SPU had a player score multiple goals in five games this season, including a hat trick from sophomore Hannah Masson on Sept. 25 ... The Falcons outshot opponents 231-130 and nearly doubled the shots-on-goal tally with a 126-64 advantage.

This Week's Opponents
Western Oregon (2-13-0, 1-10-0 GNAC)
The Wolves lost their last five games after notching their lone GNAC win with a 3-2 overtime decision over Northwest Nazarene. Seven different players have accounted for the Wolves 11 goals. SPU won the last 15 meetings to take a 16-2 series lead. The Falcons won 6-0 on Sept. 25 in Monmouth, Oregon behind a hat trick from Hannah Masson.

Saint Martin's (6-9-0, 5-6-0 GNAC)
The Saints are hot, having won five of their last six games. Jill Webb leads the SMU attack with 11 goals and seven assists. She shared the most recent (Oct. 25) GNAC Player of the Week award with SPU's Brittany Langdon. WOU goalkeeper Gina Cardenas averages over six saves per game. SPU won all seven previous meetings with the Saints, including a 3-1 decision on Sept. 23 in Lacey, Wash.

Coach Chuck Sekyra
In his eighth season, Chuck Sekyra has guided Seattle Pacific to a remarkable 146-15-14 record, three Final Four appearances and the 2008 national championship. He directed five of those teams to GNAC championships, and all seven of his squads participated in the NCAA tournament. His Falcons advanced to the 2005 championship game. Sekyra was a defender on the SPU men's soccer teams that won back-to-back NCAA titles in 1985 and 1986. He served as an assistant men's coach at SPU in 1998 and 1999 under Cliff McCrath, then was an assistant women's coach at Washington for three years before being named head coach of the SPU women in 2003. Sekyra was named GNAC Coach of the Year five times (2003-05, '07, '09) and the Regional Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007. He received the NSCAA National Coach of the Year award in 2007.

Home Sweet Home
Seattle Pacific lost only once in its last 48 home games at Interbay Stadium, falling 1-0 to Western Washington on Sept. 30, 2010. The Falcons compiled a 43-1-4 home record since their previous setback (Sept. 30, 2006 vs. Seattle University), including a perfect 15-0 mark in 2007, 11-0-2 in 2008 and 11-0-1 last season.

Poll Patter
The Falcons remained No. 13 in this week's (Oct. 26) national rankings. They opened the season at No. 17 in the NSCAA poll and climbed as high as No. 5 (Sept. 28). SPU was No. 1 in last year's preseason poll and sustained that spot for five weeks.

Season Preview
Eight starters return from the SPU squad that compiled a 16-3-2 overall record in 2009, won its sixth GNAC title and earned its seventh straight postseason invitation. One of the three starters SPU needs to replace is forward Jocelyn Charette who completed her collegiate career last fall with 15 goals and the GNAC Player of the Year award. Heading the list of returning standouts is senior goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson who was honored as an all-region selection after recording nine shutouts and a 0.57 goals against average in 2009. The defense is anchored by sophomore Taylor Sawyer who reaped All-America accolades after her rookie season. The offense features junior midfielder Kelsey Jenkins who netted five goals and a distributed a team-high eight assists. Jenkins was joined on the first-team All-GNAC squad by senior forward Amanda Johnson. Sophomore forward Megan Lindsay was SPU's second-leading scorer with six goals in 2009. SPU was picked to repeat as GNAC champions.

2009 Review
The 2009 season ended abruptly as SPU was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA playoffs by Chico State, which won a penalty kick tiebreaker 4-3 after a scoreless tie. The Falcons forged a 16-3-2 overall record, earned their seventh straight postseason invitation and won their sixth GNAC championship. Some lengthy SPU streaks were snapped. The Falcons' 3-2 loss at Western Washington (Oct. 3) stopped a 27-game unbeaten streak, including a 21-game winning skein. The Vikings halted SPU's streak of 11 consecutive shutouts that was the fourth-longest in all-time NCAA Division II women's soccer history.