Box Score    |    Final Stats

BURNABY, B.C. – Seattle Pacific's quality beat Central Washington's quantity.
 
Maddie Krauss converted her team's first shot early in the second half Thursday and Hannah Huesers scored with nine minutes left in SPU's 2-0 victory in the semifinal round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament.
 
The third-seeded Falcons (11-3-4) won despite a 15-3 shot deficit against No. 3 seed CWU. Their only missed attempt was a 25-yard boot by Brooke Holland that was gathered by SFU goalkeeper Emily Holt in the 60th minute.
 
The SPU women advance to the conference championship game for the fourth straight season, including 2013 and 2014 when they won the title. They will play top seed and undefeated Western Washington, which was a 3-0 winner over host Simon Fraser in Thursday's other semifinal.
 
Kick-off for Saturday's title tilt is 1 p.m. at Terry Fox Field. The winning team receives the league's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament. SPU participated in the playoffs in each of the last 13 seasons.
 
The Falcons did not get a shot off during the opening 45 minutes. But they took full advantage of their first foray in the second half.

 

Defender Asia Cayetano lobbed a long ball from midfield into the Central box that was dropped back by Brooke Lancaster. Krauss quickly reached the pass at the top of the 18 and first-timed a strike into the right side of the goal at 52:42.
 
"The diagonal ball was on and Lancaster touched it back to me and it was wide open," Krauss described. "I maybe had one defender on me and I just slotted it in the corner. It was a nice sequence for us."
 
That was the fourth tally of the season for the senior forward, who is SPU's second-leading scorer.
 
Goalkeeper Molly Stinson (Woodinville HS) preserved that one-goal lead as all three of her saves came after the goal by Krauss. Stinson sandwiched stops of shots by Whitney Lowe in the 55th and 72nd minutes around a 68th-minute denial of Bailey Martoncik.

 

The junior shot-stopper was coming off a school-record 13-save performance last Saturday at Concordia. She required just those three saves Thursday to get her seventh shutout. Stinson was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday for the third time in 2016.
 
The SPU defense has nine clean sheets and blanked its last three opponents while compiling the current streak of 296 minutes without surrendering an opposing goal.
 
Huesers (Lake Stevens HS) notched an insurance goal at 81:03. She capped a long dribbling run down the center of the field with a 15-yard shot that caromed off the left post on its way into the Clan goal. That was the league-leading 11th goal for Huesers.
 
"She really stepped up and really came out strong," Krauss said of her senior partner on the front line. "We needed this win, so she definitely came in clutch.

 

Huesers increased her career output to 46 goals and is within three of the school-record total of 49 compiled by Sarah Martinez from 2004-07.
 
Central (13-5-1) controlled the run of play in the first half, keeping the ball in its offensive half while holding the Falcons without a shot. The Wildcats tried seven first-half shots, but none of them were directly on goal so neither goalkeeper needed to make save.
 
There were two close chances for CWU. Martoncik had the best opportunity just five minutes into the contest. She slipped into the left side of the box and sent a low shot across the goalmouth that carried inches wide of the right post.
 
Another Wildcats attempt went wide of that same post when Molly Mortenson had a sharp header off a corner kick from the right side. The ball was not in danger of breaching the SPU goal as Simone Herzberg was standing guard at the near post and watched the header harmlessly pass.
 
The lackluster first-half effort on offense prodded the Falcons to seek more time on the ball according to Krauss.
 
"We just wanted to really come out and possess the ball more and really look to play to feet more. Coming out and doing that, especially on turf, which is a good fast surface for us, it really worked out."
 
The SPU women reached the championship game of the five-year-old tournament for the fourth time. Saturday will be a rematch of the last three title tilts.
 
The Falcons captured tournament championships in 2013 and 2014, tying Western Washington 1-1 both years before winning by virtue of the penalty kick tiebreaker.
 
In last year's final, the Vikings were 3-1 victors.
 
Saturday's winner will become the first team to claim three GNAC Tournament championships.
 
Top-ranked Western (18-0-1) won this year's only regular-season meeting, defeating the Falcons 4-0 on Oct. 20 in Seattle.
 
Central Washington will wait until Monday at 3 p.m. Pacific Time for the selection show to determine its playoff fate. The Wildcats entered the week ranked No. 4 in the West Region, while Seattle Pacific was No. 5. The top six teams in the region will advance to the playoffs, which are hosted by the top two seeds.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
GNAC Tournament -- Semifinal
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Terry Fox Field / Burnaby, B.C.
 
Seattle Pacific 2, Central Washington 0
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Maddie Krauss (Brooke Lancaster, Asia Cayetano), 52:42; 2, SPU, Hannah Huesers, 81:03.
 
                       1   2  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific        0   2  --    2
Central Washington     0   0  --    0
 
Shots – SPU 3, CWU 15.
Saves – SPU 3 (Molly Stinson), CWU 1 (Emily Holt).
Corner Kicks – SPU 3, CWU 4.
Fouls – SPU 7, CWU 12.
Offsides – SPU 1, CWU 3.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 11-3-4
Central Washington 13-5-1
 
Next SPU Women's Game
GNAC Tournament Championship Game
Seattle Pacific vs. (#1) Western Washington
Saturday, Nov. 5, 1:00 p.m. PST
Terry Fox Field / Burnaby, B.C.