SEATTLE -- The Seattle Pacific women's soccer team travels this weekend to Ellensburg, Wash., where they did not have a good experience last year.

The Falcons visit Central Washington on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 11 a.m. The game at CWU Soccer Field can be followed on the internet via LiveStats at:
http://www.wildcatsports.com/custompages/livestats/soccer.html

The Falcons were ranked sixth before a Halloween 2009 visit to Central Washington resulted in a frightening 3-1 loss, their first in the last nine meeting with the Wildcats. Amy Pate keyed the upset with a pair of goals for CWU.

That setback scared SPU straight as the Falcons reeled off two wins to clinch their sixth Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and earned their seventh straight NCAA Tournament berth.



This year SPU is unranked despite outscoring opponents 20-3 en route to a 7-1-2 record. The Falcons were listed fifth last week before dropping all the way out of the current poll by virtue of a loss and tie at home.

Western Washington edged the Falcons 1-0 with an 89th-minute strike (Sept. 30) and Simon Fraser played them to a scoreless draw (Oct. 2). SPU senior goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson (Vancouver, Wash./Skyview HS) saved two shots against the Clan to secure her school-record 26th career shutout.

Seattle Pacific leads the all-time series 15-2-1 despite having its eight-game winning streak against Central halted last year. That was the Wildcats first victory against SPU since 2001. The Falcons won last season's first matchup 2-0 on Sept. 26 in Seattle.

CWU (3-6-1) won three of its last four games and is led by the four goals and three assists of Serena Tomaso. Goalkeeper Kori Butterfield compiled a 1.31 goals against average.

The Falcons feature a balanced attack with a quartet of three-goal scorers in Brandi Hamre, Kendall Thoreson, Kellie Zakrzewski and Hannah Masson. Three other players have two goals to their credit.

Dickinson and the SPU defense have blanked seven opponents and limited the others to three goals for a 0.28 goals against average.

Seattle Pacific has a 4-1-1 conference record and 13 points to hold down second place in the standings. Western Washington sits atop the GNAC table with 15 points and a 5-1-0 league ledger.

The Wildcats are fifth in the tightly packed standings with a 3-3-0 record. They have nine points to put them one points out of fourth place and three out of third.

The SPU women return home next week to host Northwest Nazarene on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m.