PORTLAND, Ore. – The Seattle Pacific University soccer teams swept the Great Northwest Athletic Conference weekly awards that were announced on Monday, as
Kayla Wallace and
Mercedes Cullen earned Women's Soccer Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors, while
Orlando Erazo and
Jackson Goode earned the men's soccer awards.
"Mercedes and Kayla both had great weekends and helped to celebrate their Senior Day in a big way," head coach
Arby Busey said. "They have both been amazing all season, and even more so this weekend."
The SPU women's soccer team took down Central Washington 6-0 last Thursday before beating Northwest Nazarene 1-0 on senior day last Saturday. The Falcons are 7-3-5 with a 5-2-3 conference record. The Falcons are fourth in the GNAC standings with 18 points, trailing Western Oregon (20 points), Simon Fraser (22 points), and Western Washington (26 points).
Wallace scored twice against the Wildcats last Thursday night. In the 26th minute of the match,
Andie Buckley and
Sophie Hanay strung together passes that led to Wallace scoring. Wallace added another goal in the 57th minute when
Taylor Krueger assisted on a five-yard blast into the upper right corner. Last Saturday, Wallace scored the game-winner for the Falcons in the 64th minute.
Maya Parman set up Wallace for a rocket from 14 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal.
Wallace has scored at least one goal for the Falcons in her last five matches. Thursday was Wallace's first multi-goal game since scoring a hat trick on Sept. 7, 2024, against Cal Poly Humboldt. She joins
Ashlyn Valdovinos as the only Falcons to score multiple goals in a match in 2025. Wallace leads the team and ranks third in the conference in both goals (7) and points (14) this season.
"Kayla came through again with some big-time goals for us to help us get much-needed results," Busey said. "She continues to be a constant threat for our attack and creates great goal-scoring chances for herself and her teammates."
Cullen started both matches in goal for the Falcons last week. She played the first half against the Wildcats, facing eight shots and making four saves without allowing a goal. Then on Saturday, Cullen played the entire game in goal against the Nighthawks. She faced nine shots and made three saves while picking up her second shutout of the season. Cullen owns two shutouts and five combined shutouts with
Landry Schoennauer in 2025.
"Mercedes leadership has been huge all season, and this weekend helped us to achieve shutouts in both games we played," Busey said. "Her ability to organize our team minimizes opponents' chances, and when they did get looks on goal this weekend, she was perfectly positioned to make the saves necessary to keep a couple of clean sheets."
The SPU men's soccer team played crucial GNAC road matches against Simon Fraser and Western Washington last week. The Falcons took down the Red Leafs 3-1 last Thursday night before dominating the Vikings 4-1 last Saturday. The Falcons advanced to 9-2-4 overall with a 4-1-2 conference record. SPU is second in the conference standings with 14 points, trailing only WWU's 16 points.
Erazo was sensational for the Falcons last weekend. Last Thursday,
Rafael Lucio lofted a ball to the middle of the field, where Erazo gathered and scored with his left foot. The goal gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead. Then on Saturday in the 19th minute,
Lukas Shriner played a long ball down the middle of the field to a wide-open Erazo, who punched the ball into the lower left corner to put the Falcons up 2-0. Erazo has scored in three consecutive games, with all three goals being game-winners.
"Orlando was brilliant this week," head coach
Kevin Sakuda said. "He is so dangerous going at players one on one and then like he showed in both goals this week, his ability to stretch and get in behind a backline makes him such a difficult player for the opposition to deal with. He showed a ton of class in both finishes. There were a few games earlier in the season where he was unlucky not to score, and he just continued to grind and put in the reps. I love that he is getting rewarded for that work. We discussed this week how big players need to show up in big moments, and that's exactly what Orlando did. He scored two clutch goals to help give us two wins on the road."
Goode had a career night for the Falcons last Thursday against the Red Leafs. He scored the most goals in a single match of his career. In the 26th minute,
Kasey Toevs had a throw-in near the end line for the Falcons that Goode got to with his head for a goal. In the 68th minute, Lucio had a shot blocked that landed in front of Goode, who ripped a shot from distance that hit the right post and went in for his second goal of the night. Goode's goals were his first since Oct. 19, 2024. He set a new single-season best of two goals in Thursday's match. His career goal total moved to four during his time at SPU.
"Jack's impact on our team and how we want to play is immeasurable," Sakuda said. "His ability to lead and organize his teammates, link plays, break up plays, and win headers are all things that don't always show up in the stat lines. He came up big with two goals on Thursday and then played a huge role in helping us win again on the road on Saturday. We know the impact he has within our group and that sometimes goes unnoticed from outsiders, so I love that he gets the recognition this week for his play."
The SPU women's team hits the road for two tough matches at #11 Western Washington and #19 Simon Fraser on Thursday and Saturday. The SPU men's team is at home for a match against Western Oregon on Thursday and their senior day on Saturday. Both men's matches kick off at 6:00 p.m.
SPU SOCIAL
Seattle's only NCAA Division II Scholarship Program | #GoFalcons
