• FINAL STATS

BILLINGS, Mont. – Megan Moore set up Seattle Pacific's first goal midway through the first half Saturday and netted the game-winning goal three minutes after halftime of a 2-1 Great Northwest Athletics Conference women's soccer road win at Yellowjacket Field.
 
The Falcons (8-3-1) improved to 4-2-0 in league play, recovering from Thursday's 4-0 loss at 18th-ranked Western Washington.
 
"It's good to be back in the win column with a good response from Thursday," said SPU coach Arby Busey. "It's always difficult to win games on the road. It was a performance that was worthy of a win in the GNAC on the road today."
 
MSUB (4-6-1) dropped to 1-5-0 in GNAC games.
 
The Yellowjackets drew within one with a goal in the 74th minute. They were prevented from attempting another shot by the SPU defense that yielded just two attempts directly on target for the full 90 minutes.

 

Julia DeVere started the scoring at 20:20. She gathered a pass from Moore on the right flank and dribbled through traffic in the box before directing an attempt from the right corner of the 6-yard box. DeVere's low shot carried across the goalmouth and into the left side of the goal for her second score of the season. Her first goal came at home on Sept. 1.
 
Just 3:06 after intermission, Moore netted what proved to be the decisive strike. An SPU cross found Sophia Chilczuk open near the left post. She held the ball before dropping a pass to Moore for a point-blank finish from the center of the goalmouth.
 
"Good little combination down the right flank and we ended up getting a serve into the box," Busey described. "Sophia brought it down and ended up with her back to goal. She was trying to get turned, but couldn't get squared up so she got it to Megan, who was there to clean up the mess."
 
That was the second goal of the season for Moore, who usually serves in a playmaking role. The junior midfielder ranks second among Falcons with 10 points, including a team-high six assists.
 
"Megan is somebody that we've been relying upon throughout the course of the season," said Busey. "She does a ton of work for our team that a lot of times goes unnoticed or doesn't show up on the score sheet.
 
"It was good for her to be in and around the goal today. She played a great ball in to put Julia in a good spot for the first goal. Then she did a good job of just being around Sophia for the second one and being pretty opportunistic with it."
 
The Yellowjackets trimmed the deficit to one on a goal at 73:39 on a shot from the right side of the box by Jordan Devoto. She received a pass from teammate Cassidy O'Dell and took one touch before depositing the ball inside the far post.
 
Red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Riley Travis made one save for the Falcons, who held a slim 8-7 edge in shots.
 
Erinn Harder stopped two shots for Billings, which is winless in its last seven encounters versus SPU. The Falcons stretched their lead in the all-time series to 20-4-2.
 
The SPU women return home for two games next week. They host league-leading Concordia (Ore.) on Thursday at 7 p.m. as the nightcap of a soccer doubleheader with the men, who play at 4:30 p.m.
 
"It's going to be everything that we can handle. Concordia has been on a good run of results and hasn't lost in a long time," said Busey. "It's going to take a massive effort from us on Thursday at home to get a result. We'll be ready for it and excited about it and clean some things up that we saw from this weekend."
 
Next Saturday, Western Oregon visits Interbay Stadium for a 4 p.m. women's game.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018
Yellowjacket Field / Billings, Mont.
 
Seattle Pacific 2, at Montana State Billings 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Julia DeVere (Megan Moore), 20:20; 2, SPU, Moore (Sophia Chilczuk), 48:06; 3, MSUB, Jordan Devoto (Cassidy O'Dell), 73:39.
 
                           1   2  -- Total
Seattle Pacific            1   1  --   2
Montana State Billings     0   1  --   1
 
Shots – SPU 8, MSUB 7.
Shots on Goal – SPU 4, MSUB 2.
Saves – SPU 1 (Riley Travis), MSUB 2 (Erinn Harder).
Corner kicks – SPU 2, MSUB 2.
Fouls – SPU 7, MSUB 5.
Offsides – SPU 5, MSUB 0.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 8-3-1,  4-2-0 GNAC
Montana State Billings 4-6-1,  1-5-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Concordia (Ore.) at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 11, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.