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SEATTLE – Gabrielle Ewing scored the game's only goal Thursday, a 62nd-minute strike that lifted sixth-ranked Concordia (Ore.) to a 1-0 women's soccer road win over Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest at Interbay Stadium.
 
Defending conference regular-season champion Concordia (9-0-2) remained undefeated and improved its league-leading record to 6-0-1.
 
The Falcons (8-4-1) saw their GNAC record fall to 4-3-0.
 
"I loved our approach tonight. We came out, stood strong and had a great first half," SPU coach Arby Busey said. "And for the majority of the second half we were pretty good.
 
"One mistake was the difference and it's why they are what they are. They're undefeated and the number six team in the country because they find ways to win and they are very good at it. They found their opportunity tonight and capitalized on it. So unfortunately we go away second best."


 
Rose Hauser drew her first start in goal for the Cavaliers and responded with a clean sheet. She made four saves en route to the team's eighth shutout of the season.
 
The stingy Concordia defense has surrendered only four goals this season while depositing 22 balls in opposing nets.
 
Thursday's lone goal came during a scramble in SPU's defensive end. The ball was loose near the right sideline before the Cavaliers gained control with an interception.
 
Passes from Kyra Radcliffe and Brenda Uribe set up Ewing for a 16-yard finish from the top of the box straight at the goal. Ewing spun to deliver a blast into the lower right at 61:07 for her fourth goal of the season.
 
The defense made that slim margin stand, allowing just three more shots the rest of the game.
 
SPU's Sophia Chilczuk send a shot wide to the left in the 65th minute, Makena Rietz missed to the right in the 74th and the final attempt, by Julia DeVere in the 81st, traveled outside the right post.
 
Freshman Riley Travis was credited with four saves for the Falcons, who were out-shot by a slim 13-11 margin.
 
"It was a really, really strong performance by our team tonight both when we had the ball and when we didn't have the ball. Defensively we were very good again," said Busey. "You'd like to think that the way that we played on both sides of the ball is going to be good enough on most nights.
 
"But for sure I'm super proud of the team, the way that they played, the way that they approached it and feel very confident that on most days the result probably goes in our favor."
 
The hosts actually had more quality attempts, putting four shots directly on frame. The Cavaliers sent just three shots on goal, but they managed to get one of those into the back of the net.
 
"We did a good job in that finial third of moving the ball around and creating some chances that were of quality," Busey described. "Unfortunately, we didn't take them. It was tough because we did have chances tonight and if we capitalize on our chances it may have been a different outcome because we had the chances first. But again, they got theirs and tucked it in."

 

SPU senior forward Kasey Reeve led all players with five shots. She had two extremely dangerous chances in succession early in the second half.
 
Reeve received a low Chilczuk pass from the left flank and spun near the right post to fire a shot the carried inches wide in the 54th minute. Just 35 seconds later Reeves had another crack. Her hard liner forced Hauser to make a stellar diving deflection to keep it out of the goal.
 
"Kasey did a really good job off the ball of putting herself into places where nine times out of 10 she's going to finish," Busey said. "She's not going to miss very many of those. Unfortunately, tonight there were a couple that she'd like to have back.
 
"But there's nobody that I would rather have on the end of that ball than Kasey because she comes through more often than not."
 
The SPU women stay in Seattle to entertain Western Oregon on Saturday at 4 p.m. That is the opener of a soccer doubleheader with the men, who play Northwest Nazarene at 7 p.m.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
(#6) Concordia-Portland 1, at Seattle Pacific 0
 
Scoring – 1, CU, Gabrielle Ewing (Kyra Radcliffe, Brenda Uribe), 61:07.
 
                        1   2  --  TOTAL
Concordia (Ore.)        0   1  --    1
Seattle Pacific         0   0  --    0
 
Shots – CU 13, SPU 11.
Shots on Goal – CU 3, SPU 4.
Saves – CU 4 (Rose Hauser), SPU 2 (Riley Travis).
Corner kicks – CU 7, SPU 4.
Fouls – CU 9, SPU 12.
Offsides – CU 1, SPU 0.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 8-4-1, 4-3-0 GNAC
Concordia (Ore.) 9-0-2, 6-0-1 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Western Oregon at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 13, 4:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.