THE SCHEDULE 
Thursday, Sept. 1                San Francisco State at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. 
                                                Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats 
 
Saturday, Sept. 3                 Chico State at Seattle Pacific, 4:00 p.m. 
                                                Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                Live Webcast        Live stats 
 

SEATTLE – Can they pick up where they left off? 
 
The Seattle Pacific Falcons certainly are hoping so. 
 
Having put together in 2021 one of the finest campaigns ever by an SPU squad, it's all back to 0-and-0 as the new season kicks off this week with a pair of non-conference home games at Interbay Stadium. 
 
Both opponents are from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Up first is San Francisco State on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. On Saturday, Chico State comes calling at 4:00 p.m. That one will the opening half of a doubleheader, followed by the Seattle Pacific men against No. 17-ranked West Texas A&M at 7:00 p.m. 
 
The Falcons, ranked No. 5 in the United Soccer Coaches women's preseason national top 25, went 19-2-1 last fall on the way to winning a trio of titles: the regular season and the postseason tournament in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the NCAA West Region. 
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE 
A free live Webcast and live stats will be available from both games. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story. 
 
FALCONS ARE FAVORED, BUT WESTERN'S RIGHT THERE 
SPU and arch rival Western Washington are essentially in a dead heat for the GNAC favorite's role heading into the season. 
 
In the preseason coaches poll that was released on Aug. 18, both teams received four of the eight first-place votes. The Falcons wound up with 60 points in the voting; the Vikings totaled 59. In third place is Northwest Nazarene with 43. 
 
Both also are nationally ranked. SPU is No. 5, and Western is No. 10 in the United Soccer Coaches preseason top 25. 
 
In the 21-year history of the GNAC, Seattle Pacific has won nine regular-season titles, and Western has eight. The Falcons and Vikings went 1-2 in 2009 and 2021; it was the Vikings and Falcons going 1-2 in 2008, 2012, and 2019. 
 




SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK? 
-- This is the 22nd season of SPU women's soccer. That includes the abbreviated (nine-game) 2021 spring season after the regular 2020 fall schedule was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. 
-- The team won its 300th game last fall, a 3-1 decision at home against Western Oregon, and now has an all-time record of 306-81-33. 
-- Seattle Pacific is 16-3-2 all-time in season-opening games. 
-- This is the second straight year the Falcons have squared off against San Francisco State and Chico State in the first two games of the season. Last year, it was on the road, and SPU won both: 2-1 at Chico and 2-0 at San Francisco. 
-- Chloe Gelhaus, now a senior, scored the equalizer at Chico State, then now-graduated Sophia Chilczuk netted the winner. 
-- AJ DePinto scored the game-clinching second goal at San Francisco State. She also is back for her senior season. 
-- Seattle Pacific has a 64-21-8 record against CCAA schools. 
-- The Falcons lost their first meeting with the Gators, falling 2-0 on Sept. 24, 2001 at Interbay Stadium during SPU's inaugural season. They have not lost to them in the six games since then. 
-- The home field was friendly to the Falcons last fall. They won all eight games at Interbay, outscoring their opponents, 28-2. 
-- SPU did not yield a goal at home through the first six games. It wasn't until the 81st minute of the seventh home game that an opponent finally scored, as Western Oregon ended the shutout streak at 625 minutes. 
 
SCOUTING THE SAN FRANCISCO STATE GATORS: 8-8-3, 6-3-2 CCAA (tie 3^rd in 2021) 
All-time series: SPU lead, 5-1-1. Current series streak: SPU won 5. Last time: SPU 2, SFS 0 (Sept. 16, 2021 at San Francisco). Last SFS series win: SFS 2, SPU 0 (Sept. 24, 2001 at Seattle). Gators on the Web. 
Gators in a nutshell: A late-season four-game unbeaten streak helped lift San Francisco State into a third-place tie and a spot in the CCAA Tournament last fall,  but it was knocked out in a first-round penalty-kick tiebreaker loss to Cal State Los Angeles. The Gators tallied just 19 goals in 2021, with 13 players getting at least one. Midfielder Julia Hagedorn, now a junior, and forward Alexa Avelar, who's heading into her sophomore season, led the way with three apiece. Kylie Schneider, now a senior, set up three goals, the second-highest total on the team. Marcella Salyer, now a senior, started 17 of the 19 games, finishing with a 1.13 goals-against average. She came up with 72 saves. 
 
SCOUTING THE CHICO STATE WILDCATS: 10-3-5, 6-1-4 CCAA (2^nd in 2021) 
All-time series: SPU leads, 11-2-4. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time: SPU 2, Chico 1 (Sept. 11,2021 at Chico. Last Chico series win: Chico 1, SPU 0 (Sept. 7, 2016 at Chico). Wildcats on the Web. 
Wildcats in a nutshell: Chico State put together an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3) to finish the 2021 regular season, taking second in the final standings and coming within two points of champion Sonoma State. But the season ended for the Wildcats in the first round of the CCAA Tournament with a 1-0 loss in overtime to Cal State East Bay. Chico drilled 31 goals into the net last fall, Leading the way with seven was forward Susanna Garcia, who is back for her senior season. Emily Billena, a forward entering her sophomore season, added three goals. Natalie Mendoza, also a sophomore who can go at midfield or forward, didn't score, but did set up four Chico goals. Emma Hofmann made quite an impression as a freshman goalkeeper. She started all 18 games and allowed just 11 goals, an 0.58 goals-against average, and came up with 75 saves. 
 
SCOUTING THE 2022 FALCONS 
One of the best seasons SPU history went into the books last fall. The team advanced all the way to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Division II tournament, finished with a 19-2-1 overall record, which included the GNAC regular-season title 12-1-1—37 points), the GNAC Tournament title, and the West Region title. 
 
This year's Falcons certainly will set their sights just as high, but will do so with a much different group on the field, as eight of last season's 11 starters have graduated. Among those are All-American forward Sophia Chilczuk, who led D2 last year with 17 assists, GNAC Player of the Year Makena Rietz, and GNAC Defender of the Year Madison Ibale. 
 
However, head coach Arby Busey, beginning his eighth year at the helm and 17^th overall with SPU, does have three returning starters and a group of 13 other veteran players back in action. 
 
 

The starters include senior midfielder Chloe Gellhaus, whose seven goals and six assists helped her earn All-GNAC second team recognition. Forward Sophie Beadle, a junior who contributed eight goals and five assists, was on the GNAC honorable mention list. Senior defender Marissa Bankey helped the Falcons post 12 shutouts last fall. 
 
Heading up the list other returners is forward Lauren Forster, who won the 2021 GNAC Freshman of the Year award. She certainly had the stats for it: nine goals (second-highest on the team behind Rietz' 13) and three assists. 
 
Also racking up multiple goals and back for another season are senior forward AJ DePinto (five), junior forward Jacqueline Blakeley (three),and sophomore midfielder Rylee Pierce (two). 
 
 

While now-graduated Riley Travis saw most of the action in goal, going 18-2-0 in her 20 starts with those eight clean sheets, Kaitlynn Knocke got in for some playing time as well. She saw the field in six games, making two starts, and allowing just one goal in 247 minutes. Knocke was part of four shared shutouts. 
 
Though Bankey is the lone returning starter at defender, a few other familiar faces will be on the back line, too. Landrey McCann, now a sophomore, saw action in 16 of the 22 games, making 11 starts. Kathryn Nyone, also a sophomore, was in for 20 of the 22, and senior Ally Veenhuizen factored into 13 games. 
 
In addition to the 16 returners, SPU welcomes seven freshmen into the fold. 
 
FAB FRESHMEN 
Through the first 21 seasons of the GNAC, Seattle Pacific has more Freshman of the Year award winners than any other school, with seven. 
 
 

In fact, the Falcons have two former Freshman of the Year honorees on their roster right now. Chloe Gelhaus collected the award in 2019, and Lauren Forster was a co-winner last season, sharing it with Liberty Palmer of Montana State Billings. 
 
Other previous Seattle Pacific recipients were Shannon Lovejoy (co- in 2002), Alex Kirk (co- in 2006), Kellie Zakrzewski (2010), Ryan Dopps (co- in 2011), and Sophia Chilczuk (2018). 
 
Western Washington has the next-highest total with five. 
 
AROUND THE WEST 
While Seattle Pacific and Western Washington are expected to be neck-and-neck for the top spot in the GNAC, the other two West Region conferences have more clear-cut favorites. 
 
Defending champion Sonoma State is the overwhelming choice to capture another CCAA crown. The Seawolves received nine of the 12 first-place votes and 139 points. A distant second is Cal Poly Pomona. Chico State, one of SPU's opponents this weekend was third in the voting with 112. San Francisco State, the other CCAA opponent for the Falcons, was seventh with 76. 
 
Point Loma Nazarene is the choice to win the Pacific West Conference. The Sea Lions garnered nine of the 11 first-place votes, totaling 120 points. Hawaii Hilo got the other two firsts and 113 points. 
 
Seattle Pacific has two non-conference opponents from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference on the docket next week – and one of them, Colorado Mines, is essentially a co-favorite to win the title. The Orediggers got three first-place votes and 128 points. Right on their heels are co-No. 2s are UC Colorado Springs (three first-place votes, 125 points) and Colorado Mesa (five firsts, 125 points). Westminster, which hosts the Falcons next week in Utah, was fourth with 99. 
 
UP NEXT 
The Falcons wrap up their brief non-conference schedule next week on the road. Up first is a stop in Salt Lake City to face Westminster College on Labor Day Monday at noon Pacific time. Then it's back home on Thursday, Sept. 9, to take on Colorado Mines at Interbay Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m.