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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 --
Central Washington at (#12) Seattle Pacific
1:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium, Seattle, Wash.
• LiveStats:  www.sidearmstats.com/spu/wsoc/

The 12th-ranked Seattle Pacific women's soccer team (15-2-0, 12-1-0 GNAC) plays for postseason positioning on Saturday, Nov. 5 in the final regular-season home game against Central Washington (9-4-4, 8-3-2). Kick-off is 1 p.m. at Interbay Stadium where the Falcons hope to be playing next week in the playoffs. League champion SPU won 11 of the last 12 meetings against the second-place Wildcats, including a 5-2 decision on Oct. 7 in Ellensburg that featured three goals in the opening 4:53 of the second half.

GNAC Champions
Last Thursday (Oct. 25) SPU clinched a third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and its eighth in the league's 11-year history. The Falcons have a league-leading 36 points with a 12-1 GNAC record. Second-place Central Washington is 10 points back with an 8-3-2 mark. The Falcons captured the 2009 conference crown with a 9-2-1 record and the 2010 title with a 12-1-1 league ledger.

Senior Salute
Prior to Saturday's game, a brief ceremony will be conducted to honor SPU's five seniors. Brandi Hamre, Kelsey Jenkins, Mandy Verdoia, Janie Wurth and Brooke Yokers will make their final regular-season home appearance at Interbay Stadium. That quintet helped the Falcons compile a 69-8-6 record, earn four NCAA Tournament berths and win the 2008 national championship during their four-year collegiate careers.



Home Sweet Home
The SPU women have lost just three times in their last 62 homes games with a 55-3-4 mark since Sept. 30, 2006. The 2-0 loss to UC San Diego on Sept. 3 marked the only time in the last 34 games that the Falcons surrendered more than one goal at Interbay Stadium. They have an 8-2 home record this season. SPU posted a 7-1-1 Interbay Stadium record last year, the lone loss a 1-0 setback against Western Washington on Sept. 30, 2010 that halted a 45-game home unbeaten streak. The Falcons compiled a 15-0 home record in 2007, 11-0-2 in 2008 and 11-0-1 in 2009.

Playoff Venue
Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion SPU secured an automatic postseason invitation and was listed No. 3 in this week's West Region rankings. The top-two teams in each region earn the right to host first- and second-round NCAA Division II Tournament games. Playoff games are scheduled for Nov. 10 and 12.

Tournament Bound
The 48-team NCAA Division II championship field will be announced on Monday, Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. Pacific Time via a webcast selection show on NCAA.com. SPU, which will compete in the playoffs for the ninth straight year, has hosted early-round action five times at Interbay Stadium. Three years ago, the early postseason homefield advantage helped propel the Falcons to the 2008 national championship. Last year they defeated Montana State Billings 2-0 in the second round at home before falling 1-0 to UC San Diego in the West Region championship game in Austin, Texas. SPU advanced to the Final Four in three of the last six years.

Fast Facts
The Falcons are in the midst of an eight-game winning streak, marking the ninth straight season an SPU squad reeled off a run of at least seven straight victories ... Seattle Pacific's balanced attack got at least one goal from 15 different players this year, the most single-season scorers in school history.

Poll Patter
SPU rose one spot to No. 12 in this week's (Nov. 1) national coaches poll. The Falcons started the season at No. 10 in the NSCAA rankings, exactly where they were at the conclusion of the 2010 campaign.

Player of the Week
Brandi Hamre, who tallied a goal in both Seattle Pacific road victories last week, received the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week award for women's soccer on Monday (Oct. 31). The senior forward scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win at Northwest Nazarene last Thursday that clinched the Falcons third consecutive conference championship and their ninth straight postseason berth. On Saturday at Montana State Billings, Hamre opened the scoring in a 2-1 decision that stretched SPU's winning streak to eight games. Hamre has scored five goals this season and three of them were game-winners. She ranks 20th in GNAC career history with 62 points, including 21 goals and 20 assists. This marks the second Player of the Week honor for Hamre, a product of Central Kitsap High School in Bremerton, Wash. She previously earned the weekly GNAC honor on Sept. 12.

Scouting Seattle Pacific (15-1-0, 12-1-0 GNAC)
The first-place Falcons have outscored opponents 47-9, led by the nine goals of Kellie Zakrzewski and eight goals from Megan Lindsay. Ranking third among SPU scorers is senior Brandi Hamre who netted three of her five goals during the last four games. The stingy SPU defense shut out 10 opponents and just twice yielded more than one goal. Senior goalkeeper Brooke Yokers is undefeated as a starter, compiling four shutouts and a 0.41 goals against average after taking over for the last six games.

Scouting Central Washington (9-4-4, 8-3-2 GNAC)
The Wildcats, who lost just once in their last six outings, are in second place in the GNAC standings. Carson McKole leads the CWU attack with eight goals. Goalkeepers Kori Butterfield and Kayla Lipston combined for six shutouts and a 0.99 goals against average. SPU leads the all-time series 18-2-1 and won the last three meetings, including a 5-2 victory on Oct. 7 in Ellensburg. The last Wildcat win in the series was a 3-1 decision in Ellensburg during the 2009 season.

Coach Chuck  Sekyra
In his ninth season, Chuck Sekyra has guided Seattle Pacific to a remarkable 165-18-14 record, three Final Four appearances and the 2008 national championship. He directed six of those teams to GNAC championships, and all eight 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.

All in the Family
Like father, like daughter. Senior midfielder Kelsey Jenkins is making the type of impact you might expect from the offspring of a standout professional player. Jenkins leads the GNAC with eight assists and both of her goals were game winners. She scored six goals last season and three of them were game-winning strikes, including a brilliant 23-yard free kick in SPU's 2-0 NCAA second-round win over Montana State Billings. Jenkins is a native of Kent, Wash., who prepped at Kentwood High School. Her father, Tommy Jenkins, was a left winger with several English clubs between 1966-75, including a three-season stint from 1969-72 with Southampton of the First Division. Tommy came to Seattle to play from 1976-79 with the NASL Sounders.

Season Preview
Nine starters return from the SPU squad that compiled a 16-2-2 overall record in 2010, won its seventh GNAC title and earned its eighth straight postseason invitation. One of the two starters SPU needs to replace is goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson, the 2010 GNAC Defender of the Year who departed as the school's all-time leader with 28 shutouts.  Seven returning players garnered first or second-team all-conference acclaim last year, including second-team All-Americans Megan Lindsay and Taylor Sawyer. The Falcons won the 2008 national title and reached the NCAA semifinals in 2005 and 2007.