Box Score    |    Final Stats    |    VIDEO: Megan  Moore
 
SEATTLE – Fittingly, a first-year Falcon was featured on Freshman Orientation Night at Interbay Stadium.
 
Freshman Megan Moore scored her first two collegiate goals Thursday, one of them in each half of Seattle Pacific's 4-0 women's soccer home win over Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest.
 
The convincing triumph was a fitting reward for a crowd of 560 that included hundreds of freshmen attending their first game as SPU students.
 
"We had a lot of energy in the stadium and that certainly helped us get off to a great start. It's always a fun night on Orientation Night to play in front of a boisterous crowd," Busey described.
 
"We talked about trying to capitalize on the energy in the building and keep it going. Certainly getting out and getting one on our first attempt at goal was nice. It allowed us to settle in, allowed the crowd to get rowdy and it was a fun night from there on."
 


The Falcons (5-1-1) won their third straight game and improved to 2-0 in league play. The positive result came despite a 10-9 shot deficit.
 
"At the end of the day what you get credit for is goals. We've had shot counts that have been much higher and not had as much to show for it," Busey said. "Tonight was extremely efficient.
 
"We created some very high quality chances. When you are doing that you don't need as many chances to get goals."
 
Moore (Santa Rosa, Calif.) put SPU on the board early, scoring with just 56 seconds expired. She fired a shot from the top of the box that caromed off the left post and back into the center of the box. Moore won the race to the rebound and looped an eight-yard put-back shot into the back of the net.
 
That 1-0 scoreline held for the next 43 minutes until Hannah Lemm (Lynnwood HS) registered her inaugural SPU goal just 53 seconds before halftime. She scored on a three-yard header in the center of the goalmouth off a corner kick from the left side by Brooke Pingrey (Snohomish HS).
 
Moore struck again eight minutes into the second half. Kelly Gould served a cross from the right flank past the far post where Maddie Krauss first-timed a volley back to the center. Moore headed the ball in from two feet off the goal line at 53:19.
 
"Megan's been a contributor since day one, which wasn't that long ago," said Busey. "She's been a bright spot. She's very creative, has great ideas moving off the ball and puts herself in places that allow her to have opportunities at goal.
 
"She certainly did that tonight. She was there to get her own rebound to get the first goal. On the second goal she does a great job of believing that a teammate's going to dig it out from a space that it didn't look like it was going to come back from. She puts herself in a good spot anyways, the ball falls to her head and she was able to nod it home."
 
Thursday's four-goal outburst was a season-high total. The Falcons erupted for 10 goals during the last three games after managing just three during their first four outings.

 

Busey blamed the early season scoring struggles on impatient play.
 
"When we're not in as good a rhythm as we were tonight and we're not creating as high quality of chances we start to get at times a little desperate. We start to throws things at goal that maybe don't have as much of a chance to go in as if we took a little bit more time and were a little bit more patient.
 
"We were very patient in the attack in that final third tonight and created some high quality chances. It only took nine shots to get four goals tonight. If we're scoring at that rate, it doesn't matter. If its nine shots and four goals, we'll take that every day."
 
The Falcons capped the scoring at 55:00 on Hannah Huesers' (Lake Stevens HS) team-leading fourth goal of the season. The senior forward followed her own hard shot, which was deflected by the goalkeeper, and pushed a 10-yard finish into the right side.
 
Huesers was the 2015 GNAC Player of the Year. She led the league in scoring in both 2015 (14 goals) and 2014 (15). She is listed fourth among the school's scoring leaders with 39 career goals, 10 shy of the standard of 49 established by Martinez.
 
Junior starter Molly Stinson (Woodinville HS) stopped three shots before being replaced in the 76th minute by reserve goalkeeper Abby Smith (Sumner HS), who had two saves. That duo combined for the Falcons fourth shutout.
 
Ali Koehler made two saves for Saint Martin's (1-5-1), which dropped to 0-2-0 in GNAC games.
 
The Falcons women remain at home to host Central Washington on Thursday. Kick-off is 7 p.m. at Interbay Stadium.
 
"Right now we're in a good place and just trying to maintain some of the momentum. We know we're going to face stiff competition," said Busey of the Wildcats who have a 5-2 record after losing 2-0 versus Simon Fraser on Thursday.
 
"We're going to face an opponent that probably doesn't have the best taste in their mouth after dropping a game today at home. They've been very, very good up to this point this year. They have a lot of confidence and I don't know that today's going to derail a ton of that confidence. They're going to come in here and give us everything that we can handle Saturday night."
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 4, Saint Martin's 0
 
                      1   2  --  TOTAL
Saint Martin's        0   0  --    0
Seattle Pacific       2   2  --    4
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Megan Moore, 0:56; 2, SPU, Hannah Lemm (Brooke Pingrey), 44:07; 3, SPU, Moore (Maddie Krauss, Kelly Gould), 53:19; 4, SPU, Hannah Huesers, 55:00.
 
Shots – SMU 10, SPU 9.
Saves – SMU 2 (Ali Koehler), SPU 5 (Molly Stinson 3, Abby Smith 2).
Corner Kicks – SMU 5, SPU 4.
Fouls – SMU 1, SPU 7.
Offsides – SMU 2, SPU 4.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 5-1-1, 2-0-0 GNAC
Saint Martin's 1-5-1, 0-2-0 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Game
Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Sept. 24, 7:00 p.m.
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash