• VIDEO: Coach Chuck  Sekyra
      • LiveStats (Oct. 7)

SEATTLE -- First-place Seattle Pacific visits third-place Central Washington this week in an important Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer clash.

The 15th-ranked Falcons travel to Ellensburg, Wash. for a 4 p.m. game on Friday, Oct. 7. The matchup at CWU Soccer Field can be followed on the internet via LiveStats at:
http://www.wildcatsports.com/custompages/livestats/soccer.html

SPU (8-2) has a slim one-point lead over Montana State Billings in the league standings with 15 points by virtue of a 5-1 record. Central (5-2-3) is two points off the pace with a 4-1-1 record.

The last two visits to Ellensburg produced drastically different results.

The Falcons were ranked sixth nationally before a Halloween 2009 visit to Central Washington resulted in a frightening 3-1 loss that halted an eight-game series winning streak versus the Wildcats. Amy Pate keyed the upset with a pair of goals for CWU.

That setback scared SPU straight as the Falcons won their next two games to clinch the GNAC championship and a playoff appearance.

Last season's result, a 5-1 victory on Oct. 9 at Central, ignited the Falcons nine-game winning streak. They secured their seventh GNAC title and an eighth straight NCAA Tournament berth.

SPU got goals from five different players against the Wildcats in 2010, including Brandi Hamre who also contributed an assist.



This year's Falcons squad won seven of their last eight games. They are outscoring opponents by a 26-5 margin.

Last week SPU suffered its first conference setback on Thursday (Sept. 29), a 1-0 home loss to Billings. The team rebounded on Saturday (Oct. 1) to defeat Northwest Nazarene 4-0 behind a hat trick from junior forward Megan Lindsay.

Seattle Pacific owns a 17-2-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Wildcats, including wins in 10 of the last 11 meetings. The Falcons won by a combined 9-2 score in two encounters last season.

CWU is unbeaten in its last four outings this year with three wins and a 1-1 tie versus MSU Billings. Carson McKole leads the Wildcats attack with five goals and three assists.

Wildcats goalkeeper Kori Butterfield has three shutouts and a fine 0.80 goals against average. She is averaging over five saves per game and her 87-percent save ratio leads the GNAC and ranks No. 21 nationally.

The Falcons feature a balanced attack with eight multi-goal scorers. Lindsay and freshman Ali Martin each have four goals and three assists as co-scoring leaders.

Sophomore goalkeeper Natalie Harold and the SPU defense have blanked three opponents, yielding just 0.50 goals per game.

The Falcons return home next week to host Simon Fraser on Thursday, Oct. 13 and Western Washington on Saturday, Oct. 15.