Box Score    |    VIDEO: Coach Arby  Busey

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A standard-setting goalkeeping performance and a near-record scoring effort weren't enough for Seattle Pacific.
 
Hannah Huesers netted her 48th career goal for SPU, but couldn't offset two by Whitney Lowe, who led Central Washington to a 2-1 victory in the first round of the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Tournament on Thursday at Harrington Field.
 
Fifth-seeded Central (14-5-1) moves into a second-round matchup with No. 1 seed and West Regional host Western Washington on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Wildcats are making their NCAA playoff debut.
 
"It was a well-played game in terms of the competitiveness of two teams that are very well matched and know each other extremely well," said second-year SPU coach Arby Busey. "We knew it was going to be a close game and an absolute battle and war. Credit to Central Washington for coming out and playing really well today and allowing them to advance."


 
The No. 4 seed Falcons, who made their 14th consecutive postseason appearance, completed the 2016 campaign with a 12-4-4 record. They lost for just the second time in their last 13 playoff openers.
 
"My heart breaks for our players, especially our seniors who have invested so much time throughout the year," Busey said. "To have this three-month season come to an end is hard for all of us, but especially for those guys that won't be able to put the jersey on again. I feel for them."
 
Lowe put Central on the board early. She collected the ball just inside the offensive half and rapidly dribbled 40 yards down the left flank toward the end line, beating an SPU defender on her way into the box. Lowe angled toward the goal before slipping a shot just inside the left post at 8:12.
 
"Credit to her for being assertive and aggressive and getting down to the end line," said Busey. "My guess is that she looked across and kind of opened that near post up faking that she was going to serve it and just kind of snuck it in there."
 
That 1-0 score line held into halftime despite a late SPU surge. CWU recorded the game's eight first shots while preventing any advances on their goal for the opening 24 minutes.
 
Huesers registered her team's first shot at 24:09 and three more attempts followed before halftime while Central didn't have any additional shots.
 
 SPU's best first-half chance was a 38th-minute strike by Megan Moore. Her shot from the top of the box knuckled toward goalkeeper Emily Holt, who was forced to parry it past the end line with both fists.
 
A defensive miscue set up the Wildcats second score. A Falcon sent a back pass too far to the left of goalkeeper Molly Stinson. She moved laterally to reach the ball with her left foot, but it popped up in the air, enabling Lowe to direct a header into the open goal at 51:29.
 
"They just put us under some pressure. It found its way to one of their players and she was able to pop it into the net," Busey described.
 
A junior forward, Lowe doubled the season goal total of two she had entering the playoff contest.

 

Huesers (Lake Stevens HS) brought the Falcons back within one on a breakaway at 60:05. She picked up a deflection, sprinted into the box and finished into the right side of the goal from 12 yards out.
 
"That was Hannah being Hannah. She gets it, turns the corner, beats their back line and is able to slip it past the goalkeeper like she has done so many times for us before," said Busey.
 
"We got that great goal from Hannah and had a couple other opportunities that looked good that they just cut out right at the last second. Great job by Central Washington to hold steady back there in those moments when we were putting a lot of pressure on them."
 
Huesers has 13 goals this year and leads all Great Northwest Athletic Conference scorers for the third straight season. She completed her collegiate career one shy of the SPU record of 49 goals compiled by Sarah Martinez from 2004-07.
 
The senior forward led the GNAC with 15 goals in 2014 and 14 in 2015. Huesers was honored as the GNAC and West Region Player of the Year last season.
 
"Over the course of the last four years she has been somebody that's really carried the scoring load for this program. Hannah is somebody that we'll miss dearly in the future," said Busey. "We'll have to find somebody else to be able to put the ball in the net and it may have to be by committee. That's something that we've really come to rely on.
 
"It will be sad for us to not have Hannah around anymore to score goals and just to be around as a human being. She's a great person and somebody we all enjoy being around."
 
The Falcons efforts at the equalizer were in vain. They came close on two occasions.
 
Mickayla Mury had a shot saved in the 86th minute and Moore's last-gasp effort with five seconds showing on the clock was easily gathered by Holt.
 
The Wildcats goalkeeper was credited with four saves for her team that outshot SPU 15-7.

 

Falcons netminder Stinson (Woodinville HS) also stopped four shots. Her fourth, a deflection of an attempt off the foot of Mackenzie Nolte, came in the 78th minute. That increased Stinson's season total to a school-record 106, one more than the 105 saves accumulated in 2001 by Jennifer Hull.
 
"Molly's been fantastic. She put herself in position to make a lot of saves. She had a couple today that were really big for us to keep us in the game," Busey exclaimed.
 
"She's been really big for us this year, coming through time-and-time again. When we've needed a big save she's been there protecting the goal very well. That's a great honor for her to have a record like that and have her name be something that's remembered for the great season she had this year."
 
The single-season record of 106 is not the only goalkeeping record that Stinson possesses. On Oct. 29 she amassed SPU's single-game record of 13 saves.
 
The junior shot-stopper has all next season to chase the Falcons career standard of 271 held by Hull. Stinson currently has 212 career saves.
 
Stinson is one of seven primary starters expected to return next season for SPU. Coach Busey hopes they will use the frustration of this first-round exit to motivate them next year.
 
"This experience will make us better. There is disappointment in the lockerroom right now and we've got to just take that and turn it into fuel so that next year if this same opportunity presents itself, and we hope it will, that we're better prepared to advance at this stage of the NCAA Tournament."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Division II Tournament – First Round
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Central Washington 2, Seattle Pacific 1
 
                       1   2  --  TOTAL
Central Washington     1   1  --    2
Seattle Pacific        0   1  --    1
 
Scoring – 1, CWU, Whitney Lowe, 8:12; 2, CWU, Whitney Lowe, 51:29; 3, SPU, Hannah Huesers, 60:05.
 
Shots – CWU 15, SPU 7.
Saves – CWU 4 (Emily Holt), SPU 4 (Molly Stinson).
Corner Kicks – CWU 6, SPU 2.
Fouls – CWU 11, SPU 6.
Offsides – CWU 1, SPU 3.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 11-5-4
Central Washington 14-5-1