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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 --
Montana State Billings at (#14) Seattle Pacific
7:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 --
Northwest Nazarene at (#14) Seattle Pacific
1:00 p.m. PDT, Interbay Stadium (900), Seattle, Wash.

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

A clash of the top-two teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference is the first of two home games this week for the 14th-ranked Seattle Pacific women's soccer team (7-1, 4-0 GNAC). The first-place Falcons, winners of six straight, host Montana State Billings (6-1-1, 3-0-1) at Interbay Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. SPU leads the league with 12 points and the Yellowjackets are second with 10. Thursday's game is a rematch of last year's NCAA Tournament second-round game in Seattle that SPU won 2-0 on goals by Kelsey Jenkins and Brandi Hamre. On Saturday, Oct. 1, the Falcons entertain Northwest Nazarene (4-4, 2-2) at 1 p.m. to cap a four-game homestand. The SPU women visit Central Washington next Friday, Oct. 7.

Shutout Streak
SPU blanked its last five opponents, compiling a current shutout stretch of 475-minutes, 54-seconds. The last goal allowed came vs. Notre Dame de Namur on Sept. 8.



Home Sweet Home
The SPU women have lost just twice in their last 58 homes games with a 52-2-4 mark since September 30, 2006. The 2-0 loss to UC San Diego on Sept. 3 marked the first time in 26 games that the Falcons surrendered more than one goal at Interbay Stadium. SPU posted a 7-1-1 home record last season, 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.

Throw-In
SPU is outscoring opponents 22-4 with a 20-1 margin over the last six games.

Recent Recap
The Falcons swept two GNAC home games last week by the same 3-0 score. Mackenzie Laird scored her first two collegiate goals in a win over Saint Martin's (Sept. 22). Against Western Oregon (Sept. 24) three different Falcons scored and Natalie Harold picked up the team's fifth shutout. SPU completed non-conference play with a 3-1 record, including a 5-0 blanking of NCAA Division I Nebraska-Omaha (Sept. 10).

Youth Movement
Despite a veteran lineup with nine returning starters, two freshmen are leading SPU in scoring. Ali Martin tops the team with four goals and three assists. Heather Young has three goals, including two game-winning strikes. Five other newcomers have made their way into the SPU starting lineup at least once; Arizona State transfer Josie Graybeal, red-shirt freshmen Natalie Harold and Annie Thomas and true freshmen Riley Dopps and Alexa Diaz.

Poll Patter
SPU vaulted seven spots to No. 14 in this week's (Sept. 27) national coaches poll. The Falcons started the season at No. 10 in the NSCAA rankings, exactly where they finished the 2010 campaign.

GNAC Title Chase
The defending Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Seattle Pacific women were projected by the league's coaches to collect a third consecutive soccer title in the preseason poll. SPU collected seven of eight first-place votes en route to a 63-point total. The Falcons return nine starters from last season's team that captured the GNAC crown with a 12-1-1 record. SPU won seven of the 10 titles since the GNAC began sponsoring women's soccer in 2001. Western Washington was projected to finish second, garnering 52 points.

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.

This Week's Opponents
Montana State Billings (6-1-1, 3-0-1 GNAC) -- The second-place Yellowjackets are the GNAC's only other undefeated team, trailing SPU by two points in the standings. Heidi Greenback compiled five goals and four assists while teammate Jaucelyn Richter also has five goals. They pace an MSUB attack that outscores opponents 16-5. Goalkeeper Danielle Gordon has four shutouts and a 0.61 goals against average. SPU won all 11 previous meetings with the Yellowjackets, including a 2-1 overtime decision on Oct. 16, 2010 in Billings that was decided by Megan Lindsay's 95th-minute golden goal. The Falcons won all three meetings last season, beginning with a 3-0 win on Sept. 16 in Seattle, where they beat Billings 2-0 in a second-round NCAA Tournament encounter on Nov. 13. SPU has outscored MSUB 31-3 in all-time meetings.

Northwest Nazarene (4-4-0, 2-2-0 GNAC) -- The Crusaders are just one victory away from last year's entire five-win total. Autumn Yturbe leads the offense with six goals. Goalkeeper Tanya Zickefoose posted three shutouts and a 1.40 goals against average. NNU trails the all-time series with SPU by a 19-1-0 margin, their lone win coming in 2001. The Falcons swept last season's two games, winning 2-0 on Sept. 18 in Nampa, Idaho and 3-0 on Oct. 14 in Seattle.

Coach Chuck  Sekyra
In his ninth season, Chuck Sekyra has guided Seattle Pacific to a remarkable 157-17-14 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 is tied for the Falcons' team lead with three assists and both of her goals were game winners. She scored six goals last season and three of them were game-winning tallies, 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 then came to Seattle to play from 1976-79 with the Sounders of the NASL.

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.