SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play historically on Thursday afternoon, with six different Falcons contributing to seven goals en route to a 7-0 victory over the Yellowjackets.
Moira MacKay, Lauren Forster, Jacqueline Blakeley, Kayla Wallace, Taylor Krueger, and Kathryn Nyone each scored a goal for the Falcons on Thursday. The final goal of the match was ruled an own goal. SPU's multiple scorers proved historic, especially for a GNAC contest.
Thursday's 7-0 victory for SPU marked the 14th time in GNAC history a team has had six unique goal scorers. It's the fifth time since SPU has been a GNAC member that it has had six unique goal scorers.
Since SPU joined the GNAC it had six unique goal scorers on five occasions, with the last being a 7-0 win over CWU on Oct. 14, 2021, in Ellensburg, Wash. Since the inception of the GNAC in 2001, a team has had six or more unique goal scorers in 20 different games.
"It's a big deal to win conference games and get started this way," head coach Arby Busey said. "It took us a little bit to get up to speed, but once we did, we were pretty good today."
Noteworthy goals were littered throughout the match between the Falcons and the Yellowjackets. MacKay got the Falcons on the board, thanks to an assist from the reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week in Krueger.
In the 48th minute, Blakeley scored her team-high third goal this year. She'd an assist a minute later on Wallace's first goal of the year.
Kruger scored her second goal in as many games in the 51st minute. She now has two goals and two assists in her last two games.
Nyone, a defensive standout, scored her first goal of the season in the 67th minute.
Mercedes Cullen made the start in goal for the Falcons. She earned her first shutout of the season. Cullen needed to make three saves to keep the 'Jackets off the board for the full 90 minutes.
The vast majority of SPU's roster played against the Yellowjackets. In total, 23 Falcons had minutes in the match on Thursday afternoon.
"One of the things we pride ourselves on is our depth and how connected we are as a team," Busey added. "It was great today to be together and to utilize the talent on our roster. We had a chance to get so many people valuable minutes in a conference game. I thought they did extremely well. They looked and acted prepared. It's a good feeling to know that's what we have in our team."
The Falcons host the defending national champions in Western Washington on Saturday at 5 p.m.
