Making waves to making saves. ... Claiming a national championship to capturing a big game against a nationally ranked opponent. ... Reaching the record book to reaching a 'grand' scoring milestone. ... Bouncing back from near defeat to pull out a volleyball victory to speeding back from a scary incident to win a track race. Seattle Pacific athletes and teams did all of those things and more during the just-completed 2022-23 academic year. Through the next two weeks, we'll relive some of those special moments through a series of "Falcon Favorites" stories.
PREVIOUS CHAPTERS
Monday, June 19: Women's rowing 3rd at NCAAs
Tuesday, June 20: Wittrell wins in his return to the track
Wednesday, June 21: Aniteye races to NCAA 800-meter title
Thursday, June 22: Falcon women knock off Anchorage in GNAC Tourney
Friday, June 23: Record-setting day for men's indoor 4x400 relay
Monday, June 26: Anderson, Alter reach 1,000-point milestone
Tuesday, June 27: Falcon men edge No. 23 Saint Martin's, 92-87
Wednesday, June 28: Men's soccer seniors deliver to beat WWU, 2-1
October 17, 2022
SEATTLE – Poor air quality moved a match between the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team and Simon Fraser to Monday afternoon as the Falcons overcame the circumstances and erupted for their highest goal total this season against the Red Leafs on their way to a 6-2 conference win.
"With the Monday afternoon game, there were a lot of odd things to deal with," head coach Arby Busey said. "I thought our group did a good job of rising above that stuff and performing well. They were able to get this week off to a great start."
It didn't take long for the Falcons to get on the board. Chloe Gellhaus sent the ball forward to Jacqueline Blakeley just inside the 18-yard box. Blakeley used the left foot to rip it into the top left corner to put the Falcons up 1-0.
Blakeley went on to score again in the 24th minute. This time, Sophie Beadle created the chance by beating her defender down the right side. She turned into the box and sent it to the ground in front of the goal. Blakeley finished her second goal of the match, putting the Falcons up 2-1 over the Red Leafs.
In the 32nd minute, Callie Rheaume scored her first goal of the season. A free kick was moved over to Marissa Bankey, who sent the ball into the middle of the box. Rheaume used her head to score the goal, giving the Falcons a 3-1 lead that held into halftime.
Like they did in the first half, the Falcons scored quickly to open the final 45 minutes. In the 53rd minute, the ball was rolling around in front of the goal. Beadle blasted it in the goal from close range, giving the Falcons a 4-1 lead.
After a goal on a free kick for the Red Leafs, SPU scored another goal in the 75th minute. They had it in the box as Maya Parman sent it away from the goal in the middle of the field. Emmy Moore collected it and launched one at the goal. The ball bounced past the keeper for the score.
AJ DePinto scored the final goal of the day for the Falcons. DePinto found herself in a one-on-one opportunity with the SFU keeper. She made a move to evade the Red Leaf and dumped it into the goal to cap a 6-2 victory for the Falcons.
"We'll take all six," Busey added. "The goals are all beautiful in their own way, and they all count just the same. It was nice to get everyone out there. Especially in a week where these games start to stack on top of one another. They went out and handled business well today."
The Falcons have two matches on the road this weekend. The first happens on Thursday at Saint Martin's at 2 p.m.
