SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team makes its Interbay Soccer Stadium debut this weekend with two matches against Hawaii Hilo on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and Chico State at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
UNITED STATES SOCCER COACHES NATIONAL POLL
The United Soccer Coaches announced its first national coaches poll on Sept. 10, as the Falcons ranked 8th in the nation. It's the highest the Falcons have been ranked since starting 5th in the country in the 2022 USC preseason poll. Fellow Great Northwest Athletic Conference member Western Washington joined the Falcons in the top 25 by being ranked 20th by the nation's coaches.
GNAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
The GNAC announced its women's soccer weekly awards on Monday, featuring Seattle Pacific's
Kayla Wallace as the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week.
Wallace was sensational in SPU's opening weekend in Northern California. She scored four goals in two matches, including a hat trick against Cal Poly Humboldt on Saturday. After one weekend of play, Wallace has already passed her 2023 total of three goals and has set a new season-best in 2024. Wallace is tied for the most goals in the country with Haleigh Ward from Assumption. She leads the GNAC in goals with two players tied for second with two goals, including
Moira MacKay.
A HISTORIC HAT TRICK
Wallace's hat trick was the 20th in program history. Current SPU assistant coach
Jocelyn Charette has the most hat tricks in program history, with four, three of which came in 2009. No Falcon has ever scored four goals in one game.
Wallace's three-goal performance was the first since Kasey Reeve did it in a 6-0 victory over Saint Martin's on Oct. 14, 2017. It's the first hat trick by a GNAC player since Western Washington's Jenna Killman scored three times against Northwest Nazarene on Nov. 11, 2021.
HAVEN'T SEEN A START LIKE THIS SINCE…
SPU opened in 2024 with an explosion of offense in Northern California.
Taylor Krueger,
Moira MacKay,
Kayla Wallace,
Maya Parman, and
Lauren Snedeker each scored for the Falcons on the way to a 5-2 win over Sonoma State. Thursday's five-goal eruption is the most the Falcons have scored in a season-opener since Aug. 27, 2005, when the SPU took down Chico State 5-1 at home. Similarly, five different Falcons scored in that match.
STARTING WITH A BANG
The Falcons opened 2024 with nine goals in two matches. They are tied for fourth in the country in goals. Assumption currently leads the nation with 13 goals in three games played. The Falcon's early average of 4.5 goals per game is tied for third in the country with three other teams. SPU's 22 points are tied for the 9th most in the nation. SPU is tied for 26th in the country with two assists per game.
ABOUT HAWAII HILO
Hawai`i Hilo won the PacWest Conference title in 2022 and began 2023 with six straight conference wins before falling to the eventual national champions Point Loma and Concordia Irvine. The Vulcans tied their last two matches of the season and missed postseason play. The Vulcans were picked to finish fourth in the PacWest Preseason Coaches Poll.
The Vulcans return a large batch of the 2023 roster, including PacWest Player of the Year Teani Arakawa, PacWest Goalkeeper of the Year Phoebe Barnes, and PacWest Newcomer of the Year Jazlyn Ellis. Additionally, head coach Gene Okamura welcomes back All-Conference picks Filippa Graneld, Alyssa Padron, and Alia Bourney. Okamura also has seven new transfers, including a pair of Division I grad transfers that started for their schools in Shea Christianson (Weber State) and Savina Zamborini (Louisville).
ABOUT CHICO STATE
Chico State went 11-7-1 last season and finished in a three-way tie for fourth with 19 points (6-4-1 CCAA). The Wildcats finished right behind Humboldt in shots per game (12.84) and shots on goal per game (6.0). Keeper Emma Hofmann led the CCAA with 77 saves and earned All-CCAA honors for the third consecutive season. The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll.
SPU SOCIAL
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