• FINAL STATS (html)   |  • VIDEO: Abby  Smith

SEATTLE – Sophia Chilczuk and Mickayla Mury scored second-half goals, and Seattle Pacific extended its season-opening women's soccer unbeaten streak to five games by defeating Cal State San Bernardino on Tuesday afternoon at Interbay Stadium, 2-0.
 
Senior goalkeeper Abby Smith picked up her second shutout of the season for SPU (4-0-1).
 
The last time the Falcons went unbeaten this far into the schedule was in 2015 when they won their first four and tied their fifth before taking a loss.
 
The Coyotes (1-3-0) were coming off a 3-1 victory on Sunday at Central Washington. They were well prepared Tuesday against another Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent.
 
"It's good to get another shutout, but it wasn't easy today. It was tough," said SPU coach Arby Busey. "Our opponent was primed and ready, they did a good job of scouting us and causing us some problems. We played better in the second half and got a good win."
 
 
The last time the Falcons went unbeaten this far into the schedule was in 2015 when they won their first four and tied their fifth before taking a loss.
 
Chilczuk put Seattle Pacific on the board at the 60:09 mark. A low cross from junior midfielder Megan Moore found the sophomore forward outside the top left corner of the 6-yard box. From 10 yards in front, she fired into the back left corner for her team-high fourth tally of the year.

 

The 2017 GNAC Freshman of the Year, Chilczuk has scored in three of the five games this season. She logged a brace in last Saturday's 4-1 victory at San Francisco State.
 
"It goes that way sometimes with forwards, you start to feel good about things and the goal starts to look bigger and bigger," Busey said. "It was a great finish. She had another opportunity earlier in the half that maybe was a better one."
 
Just 28 seconds after halftime, Chilczuk had a promising chance, but sent a shot high over the crossbar.
 
"That shows her mentality and that's the way you have to be as a forward – is the next opportunity is the most important one," Busey continued. "She put the one behind her, found a second chance and didn't waste that one."
 
Mury doubled the lead to 2-0 at 71:45. The play started with a free kick along the right touchline. Moore tapped the kick forward to a sprinting Julia DeVere. She dribbled farther down the right flank, then crossed a target ball all the way to the top left corner of the 6 for Mury, who put it in for her first score of the season.
 
The first half was a scoreless battle for the Falcons, who led just 6-4 in the shot count after facing some late pressure.
 
"Our team was great in the second half," Busey said. "We kind of learned in the first half, took some notes of how things were going and applied some of that information in the second half on the field."
 
Smith was credited with three saves on nine San Bernardino shots to get the shutout. She has yielded just one goal in 270 minutes between the posts, posting a personal 3-0-0 record.
 
The Coyotes had one prime scoring chance in each half. With 15:30 remaining in the first, a crossing pass from the right side landed in front of a wide-open goalmouth, but was cleared out for by freshman defender Abby Despain. On the ensuing corner kick, CSUSB's Danielle Landrum got a shot from 10 yards straight in front, but it went wide right.
 
Cassandra Bermudez launched a 25-yard try from the attacking right side. Smith dove to her left to make the stop and keep the clean sheet with eight minutes left to play.
 
"We've just got a defensive group that is all relatively on the same page and some of them are interchangeable in terms of being able to move in and move out," said Busey. "We've mixed and matched a bit and everybody that we put out there has risen to the challenge.
 
"That's been a huge deal for us, giving us a lot of confidence in the attacking end to know that those guys are so good back there."
 
Seattle Pacific takes to the road for its next three games. The first of those is the non-conference finalé on Saturday at Biola in La Mirada, California, at 7:00 p.m.
 
"For us that non-conference season is a big deal and we want to finish that on a high note. We've done a lot of work to get where we're at and the girls will be motivated for Saturday to keep the zero in the loss column," Busey said. "But we know that Biola will be ready for us.
 
"We want to go into GNAC play feeling good about ourselves, and being undefeated in the non-conference would be something that provides a lot of confidence for us going forward."
 
The league schedule opens next Thursday at 3:30 p.m. against Saint Martin's in Lacey, Wash.

 

THROW-INS
• Falcons goalkeepers have faced 66 shots this season with just one of them breaching the goal, in the 26th minute on Sept. 8 at San Francisco State.

• Megan Moore helped set up both goals Tuesday, increasing her season total to a team-leading four assists.  "She's been in the middle of a lot of the good things that have happened for us this year," Coach Arby Busey described. "She's a very intelligent soccer player and does a great job putting herself in places where she can set other people up. She's always going to be an attacking personality for us that we rely on to create quality chances."

• Six of the 20 players that saw action for SPU on Tuesday are true freshmen, including starters Abby Despain and Makena Rietz.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 2, Cal State San Bernardino 0
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Sophia Chilczuk (Makayla Sonstelie, Megan Moore), 60:09; 2, SPU, Mickayla Mury (Julia DeVere, Moore), 71:45.
 
                              1      2   --   TOTAL
Cal State San Bernardino      0      0   --     0
Seattle Pacific               0      2   --     2
 
Shots – CSUSB 9, SPU 14.
Saves – CSUSB 5 (Carla Luna), SPU 3 (Abby Smith).
Corner kicks – CSUSB 4, SPU 6.
Fouls – CSUSB 10, SPU 10.
Offsides – CSUSB 1, SPU 2.
Cautions – SPU, Brooke Lancaster, 67:26; CSUSB, Leilani Ramirez, 83:58; SPU, Emma Young, 86:47.
 
Records
Cal State San Bernardino 1-3-0
Seattle Pacific 4-0-1
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Seattle Pacific at Biola
Saturday, Sept. 15, 7:00 p.m.
Al Barbour Field / La Mirada, Calif.