SEATTLE – A flurry of four first-half goals Thursday, two of them from Lauren Forster, propelled 23rd-ranked Seattle Pacific to a 5-0 triumph over Montana State Billings in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer opener for both teams at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Falcons (4-0-0) kept their perfect record intact and stayed undefeated during the calendar year, after going 8-0-1 in the spring. They maintained an unbeaten record in all-time home openers, improving to 19-0-2 in that category.
 
Efficiency was on display during the opening 45 minutes as the hosts breached the back of the Yellowjackets net on half of their eight shots.
 
SPU quickly gained a two-goal margin, getting a goal from Makena Rietz in the 18th minute followed less than five minutes later by a set-piece score off a finish from defender Mariah Alexander.
 
Then Forster got into the act with a pair of goals barely three minutes apart. Both were initiated by through balls into the box, the first releasing her with just the goalkeeper to beat in the 42nd minute. A similar scenario took place with 27 seconds left until halftime, but the sophomore reserve forward needed to beat a defender on the dribble to free space for a successful far-post blast.

LAUREN FORSTER INTERVIEW

"Lauren has a great ability when she's not on the field to survey the landscape and then come in and find some spots based on that," said SPU coach Arby Busey. "She came in and had a massive impact, doing a phenomenal job of taking her chances.
 
"She's somebody that gives our defenders fits in practice, so it's not surprising that she comes into a game and grabs a couple goals. Lauren was great and gave us a real spark today when she came onto the field."
 
Those were the first two goals of the season for Forster and increased her career tally to three.
 
CLIMBING THE GOAL CHARTS
Senior forward Sophia Chilczuk intercepted a back pass, moved around the goalkeeper and scored in the 58th minute with the only goal of the second half.
 
That was the 32nd career goal for Chilczuk, moving her into the top-five among all-time Seattle Pacific scorers. She gained sole possession of the No. 5 spot, climbing ahead of Jocelyn Charette who compiled 31 goals from 2007-09.
 
Chilczuk has work to do to ascend higher as the Falcons top-four scorers each notched 41-or-more career goals.

SOPHIA CHILCZUK GOAL

BALANCED ATTACK
Chilczuk, Forster and AJ DePinto are tied atop the team leaderboard with two goals apiece this season. Five other players netted one goal each for the Falcons, who have outscored opponents by a combined 11-1 count.
 
"We'd be lying if we felt that this early this many people would have scored," Busey said. "But it's great sharing the wealth a little bit and keeping us a moving target in terms of who may or may not get a goal on any given day. That makes us trickier to deal with.
 
"We've been doing it on restarts and that's allowed some of the players in deeper roles for us to get forward and get a piece of the action scoring-wise."
 
Goalkeepers Riley Travis and Kaitlynn Knocke combined for the Falcons third consecutive clean sheet, stretching their current scoreless streak to 323-minutes, 35-seconds. Travis started and was credited with the team's only two saves before being replaced between the posts by Knocke in the 78th minute.
 
Billings starter Clare Keenan made five saves before giving way to reserve goalkeeper Tuva Sallvin for the final 12 minutes. Sallvin stopped one shot and a defender blocked a ball off the line, giving the visitors seven total saves.
 
The Yellowjackets (3-2-1) had a four-game unbeaten streak snapped. They were outshot by a 20-4 margin.
 
SCORING SUMMARY
1 – Sophia Chilczuk slipped a ball toward the right side for Sophie Beadle who dribbled into the box before sending a low cross across the goalmouth. Makena Rietz was there for the tap-in that caromed off the right post and into the MSUB goal at 17:02.
 
2 – Ava Giovanola sent a left-side corner kick toward the near post to Sophia Chilczuk who flicked it farther into the box. Mariah Alexander raced to the ball in the right side of the box and finished from 14 yards with a low shot at 21:42.
 
3 – Lauren Forster ran on to a long, looping through ball from Toni Miranda that put her one-on-one with the goalkeeper. She finished from 12 yards, depositing a low shot into the Billings goal at 41:17.
 
4 – Less than three minutes later, at 44:33, Lauren Forster struck again. She received a through ball in the right side of the box and weaved through defenders before delivering a shot into the goal from the top-right corner of the 6-yard box.
 
5 – Sophia Chilczuk took advantage of a defensive miscue for the Falcons fifth score. She intercepted a back pass and dribbled around the goalkeeper to score from a sharp right angle at 57:34.
 
LAUREN FORSTER FIRST GOAL

NEXT GAME
The Seattle Pacific women remain home to host conference rival Northwest Nazarene on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off is 2:00 p.m. at Interbay Stadium.
 
NCAA WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at (#23) Seattle Pacific 5, Montana State Billings 0
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Makena Rietz (Sophie Beadle, Sophia Chilczuk), 17:02; 2, SPU, Mariah Alexander (Chilczuk, Ava Giovanola), 21:42; 3, SPU, Lauren Forster (Toni Miranda), 41:17; 4, SPU, Forster (unassisted), 44:33; 5, SPU, Chilczuk (unassisted), 57:34.
 
                           1   2  --  TOTAL
Montana State Billings     0   0  --    0
Seattle Pacific            4   1  --    5
 
Shots – MSUB 4, SPU 20.
Shots on Goal – MSUB 2, SPU 12.
Saves – MSUB 7 (Clare Keenan, 5, Tuva Sallvin 1, Team 1), SPU 2 (Riley Travis 2, Kaitlynn Knocke 0).
Corner Kicks – MSUB 0, SPU 6.
Fouls – MSUB 14, SPU 7.
Offsides – MSUB 1, SPU 3.
 
Records
Montana State Billings 3-2-1,  0-1-0 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 4-0-0,  1-0-0 GNAC
 
Next SPU Women's Soccer Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, September 25, 2:00 p.m.
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.