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2019 GNAC WOMEN'S SOCCER TOURNAMENT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Washington
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14 (semifinal games)
Game 1 -- (4) Central Washington vs. (1) Western Washington,  4:00 p.m. PDT
Game 2 -- (3) Western Oregon vs. (2) Seattle Pacific,  7:00 p.m. PDT
 
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 (championship game)
Game 3 -- Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2,  1:00 p.m. PDT
 
Seattle Pacific hopes the homefield advantage helps land a third Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament championship. The four-team playoff takes place at SPU's Interbay Stadium. The opening-round foe for the second-seeded Falcons (11-7-0) is No. 3 seed Western Oregon (10-5-3) in a rubber match after each won at home during the regular-season meetings. That semifinal contest takes place on Thursday, Nov. 14. Kick-off is 7 p.m. as the nightcap of a doubleheader started by top-seeded Western Washington (16-2-0) playing No. 4 Central Washington (8-8-1) in the 4 p.m. opener. Thursday's semifinal winners square off in the GNAC championship game on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. The winner gets an automatic berth into the NCAA playoffs. SPU has won two GNAC Tournament titles (2013-14), WWU won four (2012, 2015-17) and Concordia one (2018).
 
GNAC Tourney Tidbit
Seattle Pacific and Western Washington are the only schools to qualify all eight years since the conference began hosting the GNAC Tournament in 2012.
 
Year      Championship Game Score:  Tournament Venue;  SPU result
2012     Western Washington 2, MSU Billings 0:  Tukwila, WA;  SPU 1-0 semifinal loss to  MSUB
2013     Seattle Pacific 1, Western Washington 1 -- SPU 4-1 PK tiebreaker:  Tukwila, WA
2014     Seattle Pacific 1, Western Washington 1 -- SPU 5-4 PK tiebreaker:  Tukwila, WA)
2015     Western Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 1:  Burnaby, BC
2016     Western Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 1:  Bellingham, WA
2017     Western Washington 1, Concordia 0 (2ot):  Portland, OR;  SPU 2-0 semifinal loss to WWU
2018     Concordia 2, Western Washington 1 (ot):  Portland, OR;  SPU 2-0 semifinal loss to Concordia

RILEY TRAVIS INTERVIEW
 
About Seattle Pacific (11-7-0, 9-3-0 GNAC)
Second-seeded SPU is outscoring GNAC opponents 26-10, including six clean sheets. The Falcons feature junior forward Sophia Chilzcuk, who tops the team with seven goals. A trio of prolific scorers rank right behind her, Chloe Gellhaus with six goals, Claire Neder with five and Sierra Smith four. Backed by goalkeeper Riley Travis with her five shutouts and 0.97 goals against average is a stingy defense that yields less than one goal per game (0.93) while blanking seven foes.
 
Throw-Ins
It's feast or famine for the Falcons, who netted at least two goals in nine of their 11 wins (averaging 2.6 goals), but were shut out in five losses and held to one goal in the other two (0.3 goal average) ... SPU reached the double-digit win plateau (11) for the 18th time in the program's 19 years ... The Falcons posted a 3-2-0 record in five overtime contests ... Five players have started all 18 SPU games, Sophia Chilczuk, Ava Giovanola Megan Moore, Megan Nielsen and Makena Rietz.
 
Playoff Pursuit
Seattle Pacific seeks to string together another run of NCAA Division II Tournament appearances after having its national-leading 14-year run halted in 2017.SPU returned to the NCAAs in 2018. The Falcons qualified for the playoffs every season from 2003-2016. They won the 2008 national championship and advanced to the Final Four on three occasions (2005, 2007, 2008).
 
The GNAC Field
No. 3 seed Western Oregon (10-5-3, 7-3-2 GNAC) -- Kasey Bingham directed the Wolves into the GNAC Tournament in her first season as head coach. They lost just one of their last seven games, versus SPU, with a 5-1-1 record in that span.  WOU is outscoring foes 29-18 paced by the nine goals and seven assists of Alyssa Tomasini. Goalkeeper Alex Qualls compiled a 0.95 goals against average with seven shutouts. The Wolves won this year's first matchup with SPU, 2-0, on Oct. 5 in Monmouth, Ore. behind two early second-half goals. That was WOU's first win over the Falcons since 2002, halting a 31-game series winless streak (0-30-1). SPU won the rematch, 2-1, in double overtime on Nov. 2 in Seattle to increased its series lead to 32-3-1.
 
No. 1 seed Western Washington (16-2-0, 12-0-0 GNAC) -- The seventh-ranked Vikings won their last 12 games, all of them GNAC contests, by a combined score of 45-3. Overall, regular-season league champion Western is outscoring opponents 51-6 led by the six goals apiece of Liv Larson and Zoe Milburn. Karli White has four goals and a team-leading eight assists. Goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx compiled eight shutouts and a 0.38 goals against average. Just five foes have scored on WWU. On Sept. 25, Colorado Mines became the only team to net two goals. Travis Connell, a four-year SPU men's soccer letterman (1991-95), is in his 17th year and owns WWU's all-time mark with 254 coaching wins. WWU leads the all-time series 20-18-6 and has not lost to the Falcons since Oct. 27, 2012, covering a span of 19 games during which Western went 16-0-3. The Vikings were 3-0 victors in this year's first meeting, on Oct. 24 in Bellingham and won the rematch 2-0 on Nov. 7 in Seattle.  That was their 12th consecutive victory over SPU.
 
No. 4 seed Central Washington (8-8-1, 6-5-1 GNAC) -- The Wildcats return to the GNAC Tournament for the first time in three years. They are level with opponents in scoring at 23 goals apiece. Teanna Lathum paces the CWU attack with four goals while Sydney Lowe has three goals and three assists. The goalkeeping tandem of Emily Thompson and Megan Fox combined for five shutouts and a 1.33 goals against average. The Falcons won the last four meetings to gain a 27-7-4 lead in the all-time series. They were 1-0 overtime victors on a 92nd-minute golden goal by Megan Moore in the lone encounter this season, on Oct. 19 in Ellensburg. The Wildcats last win was a 2-1 result in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament in Bellingham, Wash.
 
Coach Busey
Arby Busey is in his 14th year on the Seattle Pacific staff and his fifth as head coach. In 2018, he directed the Falcons to a 12-6-2 record and a third-place tie in the GNAC standings (8-3-1) en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. He has a 48-30-8 record at SPU, a ledger that doesn't include 10 wins from 2015 that were vacated due to the use of an ineligible player. SPU advanced to the NCAA Division II playoffs in Busey's first two seasons at the helm and again last year. From his assistant post from 2006-14, Busey helped the Falcons to an impressive 95-30-12 record and playoff appearances with an NCAA championship in 2008.