• STATS (pdf)

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Isabelle Creighton assisted on the Western Oregon women's first goal Saturday morning and scored one herself less than three minutes later in a 2-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over Seattle Pacific at WOU Soccer Field.
 
The setback spoiled the Falcons (5-5-0) perfect league ledger as they dropped to 3-1-0 in GNAC games. They lost to WOU for the first time since 2002, halting a 31-game unbeaten streak in the series that saw SPU compile a 30-0-1 record during that span.
 
The Wolves (4-3-2) picked up their first conference win to even their record at 1-1-1. They had lost 11 straight games against SPU before Saturday's victory.
 
"We've got to take our hats off to Western Oregon," said SPU coach Arby Busey. "They had a great game plan, executed it really well, worked extremely hard and were the better team today. They got a well-deserved result."
 
The first goal came just over five minutes into the second half, at 50:02.
 
Creighton dribbled down the right flank and cut the ball back before firing a shot toward the right post. Goalkeeper Riley Travis deflected the attempt, but the ball spilled free in front of the goalmouth for an easy, five-yard tap-in to the left side by Alyssa Tomasini.
 
The goal was Tomasini's team-leading fifth of the season for Western.
 
Just 2-minutes, 33-seconds later, the Wolves struck again. Creighton received a pass from Kaili Brundage and delivered a 16-yard blast from the top center of the box into the left side of the SPU goal at 52:35.
 
The Falcons found themselves trailing by two goals for the first time all season. They continued to battle, allowing only one additional WOU attempt while unleashing seven shots over the final 21 minutes.
 
SPU nearly found the mark on several occasions, but instead was shut out for the third time.
 
Megan Moore was unable to reach a low pass across the WOU goalmouth in the 71st minute as her slide at the right post came up short.

 

Half a minute later, Chloe Gellhaus forced the Woves goalkeeper to make a magnificent save. The Falcons freshman streaked into the right side of the box on the dribble and fired a high drive that Alex Qualls managed to get a hand to, and push over the crossbar for a corner kick.
 
In the 77th minute, Sophia Chilczuk lofted a 35-yard shot that caromed off the crossbar into the goalmouth and Samea Aljundi's follow attempt went wide.
 
SPU's Sierra Smith lined a shot from the left side of the box that was caught by the goalkeeper near the left post with 8:37 left to play.
 
"If we can dig really, really deep and scrape to try to find something to take from the game it would be that when our backs were against the wall we were able to really push hard and create some good chances," Busey said. "We weren't able to finish any of those chances, but we showed some resolve late in the game in terms of building and creating some good chances for ourselves."
 
Qualls stopped four shots to earn her second clean sheet. Travis was credited with three saves for the visitors.
 
The final shot count stood at 10-10 after the Falcons recorded a 7-4 advantage in that category after halftime.
 
The early run of play was controlled by Western Oregon, which reeled off the game's first four shots. The Falcons didn't offer an attempt until the 14th minute when Gellhaus found Moore with a through pass. Moore's shot from the left side of the box was blocked by the goalkeeper, who allowed it to tumble forward into the 6-yard box before gaining control.
 
The hosts looked like the fresher team, and for good reason. The Wolves hadn't played a game in a week, since the previous Saturday, while SPU finished Thursday's 3-0 home win over Concordia-Portland less than 40 hours earlier. The Falcons made the long bus trip to Monmouth on Friday.
 
"We faced a very well-prepared team and a very well rested team today. They certainly took advantage of our situation," Busey concluded. "It's more credit to them than anything else. We'll have other moments like this in the future and we've got to learn from this one and be better moving forward.
 
"But, we have a lot of time next week to get things right and we'll be ready to go when Simon Fraser shows up on Saturday."
 
The Seattle Pacific women are home for their next two games. They host Simon Fraser on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 4:30 p.m. and then Saint Martin's visits on Oct. 17 for a 7 p.m. contest. Both games will be played at Interbay Stadium.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, October 5, 2019
WOU Soccer Field / Monmouth, Ore.
 
at Western Oregon 2 Seattle Pacific 0
 
Scoring – 1, WOU, Alyssa Tomasini (Isabelle Creighton), 50:02; 2, WOU, Isabelle Creighton (Kaili Brundage), 52:35.
 
                        1   2  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific         0   0  --    0
Western Oregon          0   2  --    2
 
Shots – SPU 10, WOU 10.
Shots on Goal – SPU 4, WOU 5.
Saves –SPU 3 (Riley Travis), WOU 4 (Alex Qualls).
Corner Kicks – SPU 8, WOU 6.
Fouls – SPU 3, WOU 8.
Offsides – SPU 0, WOU 0.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 5-5-0, 3-1-0 GNAC
Western Oregon 4-3-2, 1-1-1 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 12, 4:30 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.