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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 --
Chico State at (#10) Seattle Pacific
4:30 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 --
(#2) UC San Diego at (#10) Seattle Pacific
7:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

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

Selected to repeat as Great Northwest Athletic Conference champions, the 10th-ranked Seattle Pacific women's soccer team (0-0) first must face a treacherous non-league slate. The 2011 campaign opens at home against a pair of West Coast powerhouses that eliminated the Falcons from the last two NCAA Division II tournaments. Chico State (0-0) visits Interbay Stadium on Friday, Sept. 1 at 4:30 p.m. as the opener of a doubleheader with the SPU men. In 2009, SPU was purged from the first round of the playoffs, playing the Wildcats to a scoreless tie before falling 4-3 in a penalty-kick tiebreaker. On Saturday, Sept. 3 second-ranked UC San Diego (0-0) invades Interbay for a 7 p.m. clash. The Tritons, national runners-up last year, knocked SPU out of the 2010 postseason with a 1-0 decision in the Sweet 16. The two opening weekend contests are part of a four-game homestand for the Falcons.

Playoff Pursuit
Seattle Pacific seeks to return to the NCAA Division II Tournament for the ninth straight year. The Falcons won the 2008 national championship. Last season they advanced to the West Region final before losing 1-0 to UC San Diego on a 73rd-minute goal. SPU advanced to the Final Four in three of the last six years.

Season Openers
Seattle Pacific begins its 11th year of women's soccer competition with a 7-1-2 record in season-opening games. The Falcons have a 9-0-1 mark in home openers.

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.



Home Sweet Home
The SPU women posted a 7-1-1 home record last season at Interbay Stadium where they lost just once in the last 52 home games. SPU suffered a 1-0 setback against Western Washington on Sept. 30, 2010, halting a 45-game home unbeaten streak. The Falcons compiled a 47-1-4 home record since their previous setback (Sept. 30, 2006 vs. Seattle University), including 15-0 in 2007, 11-0-2 in 2008 and 11-0-1 in 2009.

Poll Patter
SPU opens the season ranked No. 10 in the NSCAA coaches poll, right where they finished the 2010 campaign. Two-time defending champion Grand Valley State is the preseason No. 1 and last year's runner-up UC San Diego is second.

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. Lindsay, a junior forward led the team with 11 goals in 2010. Sawyer is a junior defender who helped the defense limit opponents to 10 goals. SPU boasts three of the GNAC's top-four returning scorers, including Lindsay. Senior Brandi Hamre tallied six goals last year and tied for the league lead with nine assists. Kellie Zakrzewski scored eight goals en route to 2010 GNAC Freshman of the Year honors. The Falcons won the national championship in 2008. They advanced to the national semifinals in 2005 and 2007.

This Week's Opponents
Chico State (0-0-0) -- The Wildcats return nine starters from a team that recorded a rare losing record of 8-9-1 in 2010. Coach Kim Sutton's squad participated in the postseason five times since 2004. Chico is led by senior midfielder Lisa Webster who netted a team-high eight goals in 2010. Sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Oliver registered two shutouts and a 1.39 goals against average last fall. The Falcons have never lost in 10 all-time meetings with Chico State, forging a 7-0-3 series advantage. The teams played to a scoreless tie in their most recent meeting in the first round of the 2009 playoffs with the Wildcats advancing by virtue of a 4-3 edge in th penalty kick tiebreaker. SPU won 1-0 earlier that season at Chico, Sept. 8, 2009, on a 79th-minute penalty kick by Taylor Sawyer.

UC San Diego (0-0-0) -- Saturday marks the first ever regular-season meeting between the second-ranked Tritons and No. 10 Seattle Pacific. UCSD had a 19-3-3 record in 2010 and advanced to the national championship game. The San Diego attack is led by senior Sarah McTigue, who produced nine goals and three assists last season, and junior defender Hayley Johnson, who led the team with 10 assists. McTigue's 73rd-minute strike was the game-winner in last year's NCAA third-round win over SPU. Goalkeeper Kristin Armstrong returns after compiling 15 shutouts and a 0.63 goals against average. The series is tied 2-2 with all four meetings coming in the postseason, including last year's 1-0 UCSD victory in Austin, Texas. The Falcons won a 3-1 decision in Seattle during the second round of the 2008 playoffs. The Tritons won 3-0 at La Jolla in 2006 and SPU was a 2-0 home victor in 2005.

Throw-In
SPU outscored opponents 47-10 in 2010. The Falcons outshot their foes 298-162 and more than doubled the shots-on-goal tally with a 165-75 advantage.

Coach Chuck  Sekyra
In his ninth season, Chuck Sekyra has guided Seattle Pacific to a remarkable 150-16-14 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.

2010 Conference Honors
Departed goalkeeper Maddie Dickinson received the Defensive Player of the Year award and was one of four SPU first-team selections on the 2010 Great Northwest Athletic Conference squad. Falcons collected two other league awards as forward Kellie Zakrzewski was the Freshman of the Year and midfielder Kendall Thoreson was the Newcomer of the Year. Zakrzewski was the only freshman on the first-team All-GNAC squad. Thoreson, a Northwestern transfer, was an honorable mention all-league pick. Also among the 11 first-team all-stars were SPU standouts Megan Lindsay and Brittany Langdon. Falcons Brandi Hamre, Kelsey Jenkins, Taylor Sawyer and Andrea Chan were second-team selections while Becca Woods and Janie Wurth received honorable mention acclaim.