Box Score    |     • VIDEO: Maddie  Krauss

SEATTLE – With two key regulars out of the lineup, Seattle Pacific needed somebody to step up. Four Falcons rose to the occasion.
 
Maddie Krauss netted two second-half goals Saturday, one of them assisted by Brooke Lancaster who also scored for the SPU women in a 4-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference soccer victory over Saint Martin's at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Falcons (10-3-2) improved to 6-3-2 in league play and clinched a berth in the four-team conference tournament that will be played in Burnaby, B.C. They will be the No. 3 seed and meet No. 2 Concordia in the semifinals on Nov. 5. SPU was a 3-1 victor in this season's only meeting, dealing the Cavaliers their lone league loss.
 
"We want to create a little momentum in hopes of going into the GNAC Tournament and doing some things up there if given the opportunity," said interim coach Arby Busey.
 
SPU captured the last two GNAC Tournament championships, both of them with penalty-kick tiebreaker decisions over Western Washington. The Vikings have secured the top seed with a perfect 10-0-0 league ledger.


 
The teams were scoreless during the first half Saturday. Eight different players had an attempt at the goal for the Falcons, who led the shot count 11-3 at that point. But none of them found the back of the net.
 
Last year's GNAC Player of the Year, Isabel Farrell, and the team's second-leading scorer, Laura Moore, were both sidelined Saturday. Meanwhile Hannah Huesers, the GNAC's top scorer with 12 goals, was blanketed, if not frequently mugged, by an SMU defender.
 
A quartet comprised of one starter and three reserves filled that void.

 

SPU quickly broke into the scoring column after halftime. Lancaster (Sumner HS) found the goal 18 seconds after halftime followed by Krauss' first tally, in the 52nd minute. Staring midfielder Maddy Booster (Bend, Ore.) set up both of those goals with her first assists of the season.
 
Krauss (Lake Oswego, Ore.) notched her second goal in the 57th minute off Lancaster's feed from the left flank. She received the ball at the top of the box and looped a shot over the charging goalkeeper. Krauss' first goal was a 10-yard blast from the right side into the upper left corner. Those were the first two goals of the season for the junior forward who has seven career scores.
 
"Krauss can do that. She's got the ability to put balls in the goal, she does it every day in practice," Busey said. "She took an opportunity tonight that was provided to her and knocked it out of the park. She was fantastic.
 
"It was great to see the way she went about her business. She was good at the end of the first half so we rolled her out there again to start the second half and paid massive dividends for us."

 

Simone Herzberg (Portland, Ore.) capped the scoring in the 83rd minute with her second goal of the year.
 
Busey credited his team's depth, along with a excitement of finally playing at home again, for the impressive result. The Falcons recently concluded a four-game road trip and were playing at home for the first time since Oct. 8.
 
"We've been away from home for a long time and it took us a while to adjust back to our surface and our style and things like that. We struggled out of the gate a little bit and credit has to go to Saint Martin's for being prepared and ready to roll.
 
"But in the second half we started to wear them down a little bit. We got possession of the ball and moved it around. That definitely played a huge role in our favor. We knew that they were lacking in depth on their bench because they've had some injuries, and that played out to our advantage in the second half."
 
SPU goalkeepers Molly Stinson and Abby Smith combined for the win, but were not required to record a save as none of the Saints' four shots went on frame. Stinson (Woodinville HS) was between the posts for the first half before giving way to Smith (Sumner HS), a freshman who made her collegiate debut.
 
"Our defense has been really good for awhile now," Busey described. "They kept the ball away from dangerous spots. There were some moments where it looked like Saint Martin's might get onto us a bit, but we did a good job of pushing the ball into spots that would be far less dangerous and made an easy night for our goalkeepers for sure."
 
Chelsie Still collected eight saves for SMU, which was outshot 26-4. The Saints (1-13-0) remained winless against GNAC opponents at 0-10-0.
 
The Falcons have won all 18 of their meetings with Saint Martin's, but not always by such a lopsided margin. In fact, this season's first meeting on Sept. 26 in Lacey, Wash. resulted in a 2-1 overtime win. But SPU trailed 1-0 before Huesers got a goal with seven seconds left in regulation to force the extra session. Moore tallied a golden goal 1:15 into overtime.
 
The SPU women close out the regular season next week with a pair of home games at Interbay Stadium. They host Western Oregon on Thursday at 7 p.m. as the nightcap of a soccer doubleheader with the men. They entertain Carroll College in a non-conference tilt on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
 
Busey hopes to parlay Saturday's strong second half into success next week.
 
"We want to build off what happened here tonight in the second half and try to carry that on into Thursday night and again on to Saturday. It was a great second half and it's something that we want to try to hold tight onto and build this week so we can start Thursday's game the way that we ended tonight's game."

 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 4, Saint Martin's 0
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Brooke Lancaster (Maddy Booster), 45:18; 2, SPU, Maddie Krauss (Booster), 51:38; 3, SPU, Krauss (Lancaster), 56:45; 4, SPU, Simone Herzberg, 82:44.
 
Shots – SMU 4, SPU 26.
Saves – SMU 8 (Chelsie Still), SPU 0 (Molly Stinson, Abby Smith).
Corner kicks – SMU 2, SPU 8.
Fouls – SMU 3, SPU 4.
Offsides – SMU 0, SPU 4.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 10-3-2, 6-3-2 GNAC
Saint Martin's 1-13-0, 0-10-0 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 29, 7:00 p.m.
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.