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• VIDEO: Taylor  Menkens interview
• VIDEO: Chloe  Gelhaus goal #1
• VIDEO: Chloe  Gelhaus goal #2
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Seattle Pacific erupted for three second-half goals Thursday, two of them from freshman Chloe Gellhaus, to register a 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer victory over Saint Martin's at Interbay Stadium.
 
After SPU sophomore Taylor Menkens opened the scoring in the 52nd minute with her first collegiate goal, Gellhaus netted her first tally of the game eight minutes later.
 
The Saints halted their six-game scoreless streak in the 61st minute when Maddison Maffeo found the back of the net on a long free kick.
 
"It's always good to come away with a result at home," said SPU coach Arby Busey. "Certainly it was harder than many of us thought it would be and that's a credit to Saint Martin's and the intensity and the work-rate that they put into this game."
 
Gellhaus completed the brace with a 70th-minute strike from outside the box, securing her first multi-goal college game and the only two-goal performance by a Falcon this season. She moved into a tie with Sierra Smith for the team scoring lead, each with four goals this season.

CHLOE GELHAUS 2ND GOAL

 "She's got some special qualities in and around the goal that we're still learning how to use. Chloe knows how to use them and we're trying to put her in spots to finish a lot of those opportunities," said Busey, who suggested that perhaps Gellhaus might not be completely content with just two goals.
 
"She got herself another couple and probably goes to sleep tonight probably wanting a few other opportunities back. She's got a great individual ability to create for herself and those opportunities are starting to fall for her, and for us, which is really great."
 
The Falcons (7-5-0) won for the fourth time in their last five outings. They improved to 5-1-0 in league play, maintaining a second-place standing.
 
The first half was scoreless despite the ball being in the visitor's half for the majority of the 45 minutes. SPU did not surrender a shot while attempting four.
 
Three of those chances were dangerous, topped by the game's initial shot. In the sixth minute Megan Moore first-timed a pass from Sophia Chilczuk, but her shot carried just wide of the left post.
 
Five minutes later, Menkens delivered a shot from the edge of the box that was easily grabbed by Saints goalkeeper Sophie Mendoza. That was the only first-half save required as none of the other attempts were on frame.
 
TAYLOR MENKENS INTERVIEW

Gellhaus ripped a hard shot in the 34th minute, spinning and firing an attempt from the top of the box that travelled high over the crossbar.
 
SPU won the previous meeting 2-0 on Sept. 28 in Lacey and Gellhaus netted a second-half goal in that one. That game was also scoreless at halftime.
 
Much of Busey's halftime speech on Thursday focused on the trapping SMU defense that generated a whopping 13 offside calls on the night.
 
"We talked about them playing a little bit higher line in the back and maybe how to exploit some of that. We saw the same thing last weekend with Simon Fraser playing a higher offside line. It can be frustrating to play against and certainly tonight was more frustrating than last weekend.
 
"It took us longer to figure things out and I don't know that we ever necessarily solved it tonight. We broke it a couple times, but we didn't solve the things that they were doing to us. They did a really good job with their game plan tonight."
 
Menkens ended Thursday's mutual scoring drought at 51:22. She raced to reach a loose balling rolling out of the SMU box and tucked a 22-yard blast over the goalkeeper and under the crossbar.

"Taylor is always in the right place at the right time, works her socks off and hit a screamer tonight," Busey described. "It was really neat for her to get a goal. Day-in-and-day-out she works as hard as anybody on our roster and is certainly deserving of what happened to her tonight."
 
TAYLOR MENKENS GOAL

 Gellhaus found the goal at 59:06, slotting a 20-yard ball to the lower left side. Long passes from both Moore and Asia Cayetano set up the scoring play.
 
The Saints' first shot of the game, at 60:23, produced a goal. Maffeo lined up a free kick from the right side, 40 yards away from the SPU goal. She looped the ball over the collection of players in the congested box and it bounded inside the left post.
 
SMU (2-8-3) managed just two more shots the rest of the way, finishing with a 19-3 deficit in that category. The Saints dropped to 0-5-0 in GNAC games.
 
Gellhaus notched up her second goal at 69:21 on a wonderful 26-yard attempt. She gathered a loose ball and made a dribbling run before lofting a shot that nicked off the underside of the crossbar on its way into the goal.
 
Goalkeeper Riley Travis made one save for the Falcons.
 
The SPU women hit the road for their next three games, beginning Saturday at Central Washington. Kick-off is 4 p.m. in Ellensburg.
 
"The road is not going to be unfamiliar to us in any way, shape or form. It seemed weird playing back-to-back games at home for us for the first time, seemingly, all year," said Busey, whose team actually wrapped up its second stretch of consecutive games at Interbay Stadium.
 
"We will have our hands full. We're going to be challenged for sure over the course of these next three games and we will learn a lot about ourselves as we get closer towards potentially being in the postseason. Central had a great result today and that's been a place that is very challenging for all opponents that go over and play them in Ellensburg. We'll need to be a little bit better in terms of our finishing than we were tonight in order to get that result on Saturday."

NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 3, Saint Martin's 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Taylor Menkens (unassisted), 51:22; 2, SPU, Chloe Gellhaus (Megan Moore, Asia Cayetano), 59:06; 3, SMU, Maddison Maffeo (unassisted), 60:23; 4, SPU, Gellhaus (unassisted), 69:21.
 
                        1   2  --  TOTAL
Saint Martin's          0   1  --    1
Seattle Pacific         0   3  --    3
 
Shots – SMU 3, SPU 19.
Shots on Goal – SMU 2, SPU 10.
Saves –SMU 7 (Sophie Mendoza), SPU 1 (Riley Travis).
Corner Kicks – SMU 0, SPU 1.
Fouls – SMU 8, SPU 10.
Offsides – SMU 1, SPU 13.
 
Records
Saint Martin's 2-8-2, 0-5-0 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 7-5-0, 5-1-0 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Seattle Pacific at Central Washington
Saturday, Oct. 19, 4:00 p.m. PDT
Tomlinson Stadium / Ellensburg, Wash.