• STATS (pdf)  
• VIDEO: Marissa  Bankey interview
• VIDEO: Marissa  Bankey golden goal

SEATTLE – Freshman Marissa Bankey's golden goal late in the final overtime Saturday lifted Seattle Pacific to a 2-1 women's soccer victory at Interbay Stadium that secured second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.
 
"It was so great to have a freshman come in and solve that game for us," exclaimed SPU coach Arby Busey. "It was a difficult one. We had plenty of chances prior to that and it was really neat for her to get us a goal that wins a game for us."
 
The Falcons (10-6-0) improved to 8-2-0 in league play and nobody can catch them from behind. They are still nine points back in the standings (33-24) from fWestern Washington (11-0-0), which secured the GNAC regular-season title at home tonight with a 4-0 win over Northwest Nazarene.
 
Those Northwest rivals at the top of the table clash Thursday night in Seattle in a rematch of last week's 3-0 win by seventh-ranked WWU.

MARISSA BANKEY GOLDEN GOAL
 Freshmen Fuel Falcons
Both SPU goals Saturday were produced by freshmen with composed finishes, including a 30th-minute strike by Chloe Gellhaus that put the hosts ahead, 1-0.
 
In heavy traffic barely in the defensive half, Sophia Chilczuk slipped a pass to Sierra Smith who immediately relayed it to Gellhaus streaking toward the box. Gellhaus dribbled eight yards before pushing a low shot from the top of the box inside the right post at 29:16.
 
"Chloe is so talented with the ball at her feet. She's got a way of getting people to lean the wrong way and create just enough space for herself to be able to finish," Busey said. "She got put in on a great pass by Sierra and she's a great person to have in that moment to finish sequences."
 
That 1-0 lead held into intermission for the Falcons, who had a 4-3 edge in the shot count at that point. They came firing on all cylinders after halftime, but couldn't find a second goal.
 
The Equalizer
Despite being outshot 15-1 during the second half, WOU made good on its only attempt. Malia Napoleon ignited a counter-attack with a looping through pass from behind the 50-yardline to set up the equalizer.
 
Isabelle Creighton raced to the ball with three defenders approaching from behind and goalkeeper Riley Travis converging on her. Creighton managed to sneak a left-footed shot from between the arc and top of the 18-yard box that slipped past Travis and trickled into the goal at 66:28.
 
"It's hard to have all the opportunities that we did, hitting crossbars, just barely missing and having the goalkeeper make great saves. Then, they go down on the other end and the one chance they get, they tuck it away," Busey said. "That's part of our sport. Our group did a really good job in overtime of staying in the moment and dealing with what was going on right now and not worrying after the fact about the goal that we conceded."
 
Working Overtime
The Falcons went into overtime for the fifth time this season and improved to 3-2 in those contests. Saturday was the first time they needed the second session as the earlier games were all decided during the first 10-minute period.
 
SPU did not surrender a shot during overtime while firing four times.
 
The game-winner came with 2-minutes, 41-seconds left to play before the game would have been declared a draw. Ava Giovanola served a left-side corner kick into the 6-yard box that caromed out to Bankey, who had moved forward from her right back position for the set piece. Bankey settled the ball in traffic and delivered an eight-yard strike to the top right at 107:19.
 
Despite a congested box, Bankey patiently took a touch before shooting, belying her first-year status.
 
"It would have been surprising if it was just another freshman defender, but she's had a lot of great experience and plays beyond her years," Busey said. "Marissa has been amazing for us since day one maturity-wise. She was very calm, very composed in that moment, showing a lot of maturity. Thank God she did."
 
That was the first collegiate goal for Bankey. She is the third SPU player to net a golden goal this season, joining Claire Neder and Megan Moore.

MARISSA BANKEY INTERVIEW
The Shot Stoppers
Alex Qualls made six saves for the Wolves (9-5-3), who were outshot by a 22-5 margin. Their GNAC record dropped to 6-3-2.
 
Travis stopped one shot for the Falcons.
 
The best opportunity for the Wolves was denied by SPU's Sierra Smith with just under three minutes left until halftime.
 
A WOU corner kick into the goalmouth squeezed out of the pack to Selene Konyn. Her 13-yard shot was cleared off the line by Smith, who stretched from her position at the right post to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.
 
Close Chances
SPU certainly had opportunities to get a decisive second goal during regulation, including three close chances from Claire Neder.
 
In the 15th minute, she took a feed from Gellhaus in the right side of the box and fired a 15-yard blast off the crossbar. Neder had a point-blank shot from 10 yards in the 55th minute that Qualls batted down to the ground before gathering the ball.
 
With 4:15 left in regulation Neder delivered shot from an acute angle on the right side that was barely batted over the bar by the goalkeeper for a corner kick.
 
Gellhaus was goal-dangerous all day, both in attempts and setting up teammates. She nearly found a second score for herself in the 64th minute on a hard shot from outside the box that banged off the crossbar.
 
With 5:40 left in final overtime, three minutes before Bankey ended the game, Gellhaus found Smith deep in the box for an outside-of-the-foot flick that barely missed the mark over the crossbar. One minute later Gellhaus lined a 17-yard shot high.
 
Upcoming Action
The SPU women complete the regular season next week with a pair of home games at Interbay Stadium, beginning Thursday at 7 p.m. against seventh-ranked Western Washington.
 
"It's a great game for us and it comes at a great time. We now have clinched and are in the postseason and this will very much be the type of team that we will see in the postseason. It's a good test for us and hopefully gets us prepared for what we will see the following week in the GNAC championship," Busey explained. "It's a tough team to play against. They're very good, lethal in front of net the last time we played them. We didn't concede a ton of chances against them, but they were clinical in the moments that they needed to be. We need to be better in the moments that we were able to create.
 
"It will come down to two teams that really draw the best out of each other. We'll be excited, they'll be excited and it will be a really fun night on Thursday at Interbay.'
 
The Falcons conclude their schedule next Saturday (Nov. 9) versus Northwest Nazarene. The team's four seniors will be honored with a pregame ceremony prior to the 4:30 p.m. kick-off.

NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 2, Western Oregon 1 (2ot)
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Chloe Gellhaus (Sierra Smith, Sophia Chilczuk), 29:16; 2, WOU, Isabelle Creighton (Malia Napoleon), 66:28; 3, SPU, Marissa Bankey (Ava Giovanola), 107:19.
 
                       1   2  OT  OT  --  TOTAL
Western Oregon         0   1   0   0  --    1
Seattle Pacific        1   0   0   1  --    2
 
Shots – WOU 5, SPU 22.
Shots on Goal – WOU 3, SPU 8.
Saves – WOU 6 (Alex Qualls), SPU 2 (Riley Travis 1, Team 1).
Corner Kicks – WOU 8, SPU 9.
Fouls – WOU 18, SPU 7.
Offsides – WOU 1, SPU 3.
 
 
Records
Western Oregon 9-5-3,  6-3-2 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 10-6-0,  8-2-0 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
(#7) Western Washington at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Nov. 7, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.