BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Sophia Chilczuk assisted on both first-half goals Thursday for fourth-ranked Seattle Pacific, which advanced to the GNAC Tournament championship game with a 2-1 women's soccer semifinal victory over Simon Fraser at rainy Harrington Field.
 
The senior forward increased her league-leading total to 15 assists, eight more than any other player. Chilczuk entered the game ranked second nationally in that category among NCAA Division II competitors.
 
Both goals came off crossing passes from Chilczuk on the deep-right flank, each of them capping a dribbling run down the sideline that beat defenders. She found the head of Chloe Gellhaus in the 28th minute and just over five minutes later located Claire Neder with a low pass for a tap-in.
 
The top-seeded Falcons (16-1-1) stretched their unbeaten streak to 12 games with an 11-0-1 record during that span. They reached the 16-win mark for the first time since the 2011 team posted a 17-3-0 final record.
 
Regular-season champion SPU reached the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title game for the sixth time in the nine times the tournament has been conducted.
 
"It's awesome. Everybody starts the season hoping to be where we get to be on Saturday," exclaimed SPU coach Arby Busey. "A lot of work has gone into it and our girls have earned this.
 
"We're excited about the opportunity to play for a conference championship on Saturday. It was what we set out to do and it's great to be here now."
 
CHLOE GELLHAUS GOAL

Seattle Pacific seeks to capture a third tournament championship, its first since 2014, with a meeting against No. 2 seed Western Washington, a 3-1 winner over Northwest Nazarene in the other semifinal. The Falcons and 13th-ranked Western will clash in the final for the sixth time.
 
Saturday's victor receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament that begins next Thursday, Nov. 18.
 
Simon Fraser (5-11-2), the tournament's fourth seed, saw its season end, but not without putting up some late resistance.
 
The Canadian side got a 78th-minute goal from Annika Gross to draw within the final 2-1 scoreline.
 
"We expected a challenge. It's a team that we've played twice already and not a whole lot of secrets left between the two teams," Busey said. His Falcons won the two regular-season matchups by 2-0 and 3-0 scores. "They defended very well, as they did the first two times we played them, and made it very hard for us to get into a good rhythm attacking-wise.
 
"We created some good early opportunities and just had to stick with it until the goal happened. Our first goal was a great sequence with Soph doing was Soph does, in the corner. She served up a great ball that Chloe got to and put right where we wanted it."
 
GAME SUMMARY
The Falcons dominated the run of play in the first half, controlling the ball for 63-percent of the possession. They compiled a 10-2 shot advantage before halftime.
 
Four SPU shots were fired before Simon Fraser managed a 17th-minute attempt by Emma Ferraro that sailed high. The Falcons compiled eight shots before striking paydirt on their ninth.
 
Three of those were dangerous chances, from Gellhaus, Marissa Bankey and Chilczuk.
 
Ava Giovanola served a left-side free kick into the box, finding Gellhaus alone in front of the goal for a first-time volley that carried over the crossbar.
 
In the 12th minute Bankey fired a left-footer from the top of the 18, a low drive that was blocked at the right post by goalkeeper Nicole Anderson for a corner kick.
 
A left-side shot by Chilczuk went inches wide of the right post in the 24th minute. She would setup her teammate for the initial goal just two minutes later.
 
Chilczuk raced down the right sideline with the ball and retained possession while feigning toward the endline and coming back on a few occasions. She finally found an opening and lofted a cross that Gellhaus headed into the left side of the goal from eight yards out at 27:11.
 
That was the fifth goal of the season for the junior midfielder who became the sixth SPU player to reach the five-goal mark.
 
The Falcons next shot was equally productive.

Chilczuk again worked her right-sideline magic before lashing a low cross across the 6-yard box that evaded the diving goalkeeper. Neder was there to tuck a 3-yard shot into the open goal at 32:21. The goal was her fourth of the season and the 21st of her career.
 
That score proved to be the game-winner, the second deciding goal of the year for Neder and her ninth career game-winning tally.

CLAIRE NEDER GOAL

Seattle Pacific seemed in total control for the rest of the period and well into the second half before the lead was cut in half.
 
A cross into the SPU box was punched away by goalkeeper Riley Travis. The ball carried out to Katie Cartier at the left side of the box and she slid a pass to the center. Gross first-time a lofted shot with her right foot at 77:09 that Travis got a fist to, but was unable to prevent going under the crossbar.
 
Simon Fraser was unable to find an equalizer as the Falcons defense stiffened and did not yield a shot over the remaining 12 minutes.
 
"Our defenders take a lot of pride in keeping our opponents off the scoreboard. When they do find paydirt that's the response that we typically have gotten is to stiffen up and really get back to focusing on keeping them away from our goal," Busey described.
 
"They cut the lead in half and things can get a little chaotic in those moments if you let them. Our maturity as a team showed in that moment with a response that was very professional. We did not let them get another look at it."
 
The final shot count was 16-4 in the Falcons favor. Travis stopped one shot for SPU and Anderson, her Simon Fraser counterpart, made three saves.

WE MEET AGAIN
Northwest rivals SPU and WWU meet in the GNAC final for the sixth time in nine all-time tournaments. The Vikings were 2-1 victors in the last tournament, in 2020, to claim a 3-2 edge in the previous encounters with the championship on the line.
 
The Falcons claimed back-to-back crowns in 2014 and 2015 and both were wins over WWU that required a penalty-kick shootout to determine the champion.
 
Overall, Western has five GNAC Tournament titles to its credit and the Falcons two.
 
The Vikings (14-3-3) got a semifinal hat trick from Jenna Killman to keep alive a streak of qualifying for every GNAC championship game. They are serving as hosts for the tournament, but SPU will serve as the "home" team by virtue of its No. 1 seed. Kick-off is Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
 
SPU won both regular-season meetings versus the Vikings. They got a 1-0 overtime win on Oct. 9 in Seattle, getting a 95th-minute golden goal from Neder. The Falcons won the rematch 3-0 on Oct. 21 in Bellingham behind a goal and assist from Chilczuk.
 
ARBY BUSEY INTERVIEW

NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
GNAC Tournament -- Semifinal
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.
 
(#4) Seattle Pacific 2, Simon Fraser 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Chloe Gellhaus (Sophia Chilczuk), 17:11; 2, SPU, Claire Neder (Chilczuk), 32:21; 3, SF, Annika Gross (Katie Cartier), 77:09.
 
                     1   2   TOTAL
Simon Fraser         0   1  -  1
Seattle Pacific      2   0  -  2
 
Shots – SF 4, SPU 16.
Shots on Goal – SF 2, SPU 5.
Saves – SF 3 (Nicole Anderson), SPU 1 (Riley Travis).
Corner Kicks – SF 1, SPU 5.
Fouls – SF 13, SPU 12.
Offsides – SF 0, SPU 0.
 
Records
Simon Fraser 5-11-2
Seattle Pacific 16-1-1
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
GNAC Tournament -- Championship Game
(#13) Western Washington vs. (#4) Seattle Pacific
Saturday, November 13, 1:00 p.m.
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.