SEATTLE – This week in Seattle Pacific University Athletics, women's soccer plays two road matches, cross country competes in Seattle, and women's volleyball and men's soccer host Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches on Thursday and Saturday.
 
MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Oct. 8 – 7:00 p.m.
vs. Western Oregon – live stats – watch – tickets
 
Saturday, Oct. 10 – 1:00 p.m.
vs. Saint Martin's – live stats – watch – tickets

FROM THE COACH
"I've been really proud of how this group has grown and competed throughout the season so far," head coach Kevin Sakuda. "We've shown that we can win in different ways and have competed consistently through a challenging stretch of 7 road games. We're excited to be back at Interbay this week and play in front of our home fans. Now the challenge is to keep raising the bar with our performances and taking steps toward becoming the team we know we can be."

ABOUT THE FALCONS

• The Falcons scored early but settled for a 1-1 draw on the road at Simon Fraser last Thursday.
  • Isaac Ketcham put the Falcons up 1-0 in the eighth minute, finishing an assist from Harper Sabari.
• Last Saturday, four different Falcons scored against Western Washington as the Falcons dominated the Vikings 4-1.
  • David Ochoa, Marcos Bravo, Judah Straight, and Cooper Schneider found the back of the net for the Falcons against the Vikings.
  • Brady Reed assisted on two of the four goals scored by SPU last Saturday.
• The Falcons have scored 24 goals in 11 matches this season and are tied with Western Oregon and Saint Martin's for the most goals scored in the conference.
• JP Guzman has taken 22 shots in nine matches and ranks second in the conference in shots per game with 2.44.
• Rafael Lucio has scored five goals this season, tied for fourth most in the conference.
• Lucio and Straight are tied for second in the GNAC with two game-winning goals each.
• JJ Diaz and Sebastian Rangel have three assists each and are tied for fourth in the GNAC.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Thursday, Oct. 8 – 7:00 p.m.
vs. #18 Simon Fraser – watch – live stats - tickets
 
Saturday, Oct. 10 – 2:00 p.m.
vs. Western Washington – watch – live stats – tickets

FROM THE COACH
"The team is really looking forward to having two fun matches at home to finish the first round of GNAC play," head coach Jason Rhine said. "Obviously Simon Fraser has been playing at a high level this year and in the past few years and we have had some really back-and-forth matches with them including a super close 5-setter here at home last year.  And with it being their final year in the conference we want to enjoy playing against the international competition a couple more times."

"Western Washington has been able to compete well against good teams including a big win over Central a few weeks ago," Rhine added. "They are a very balanced team with good ball control and we know we will need to play at a high level and be able to put pressure on them with our attacking and serving."

"This week will be a great chance to find small ways to improve and also to connect and work on ways to be our best this weekend," Rhine said.
 
ABOUT THE FALCONS

• The Falcons beat Northwest Nazarene in five sets last Thursday night.
  • The Falcons finished the match with a.305 hitting percentage, while limiting the Nighthawks to a .219 hitting percentage.
  • Maiya Lester led the Falcons with 17 kills on 38 attempts, hitting .368 for the match.
  • Audra Rose followed with 13 kills on a .650 clip, adding a team-high total blocks.
  • Peyton Ensign ran the offense with 27 assists, while Avery Veenendall chipped in 20 of her own.
  • Christina Lopez paced the defense with 17 digs, with Megan Omlid adding 13.
• The Falcons squared off with 21^st-ranked Central Washington last Saturday, where the Falcons and Wildcats played a record-tying second set before the Falcons fell 3-0 (25-21, 39-37, 25-13).
  • Last Saturday's second set between the Falcons and Wildcats is tied for the highest score in the rally scoring era (since 2008).
  • Omlid led the Falcons with 11 kills and four of the team's seven service aces.
  • Lester added 10 kills, while Rose chipped in seven kills and a team-high four block assists.
  • Ensign ran the offense with 29 assists and added a team-high 10 digs.
• The Falcons are 5-2 in conference play, putting them in third in the GNAC standings.
• Rose is hitting .299 this season and ranks seventh in the conference in hitting percentage.
  • She also ranks seventh in the conference with one block per set.
• Lopez is averaging 4.17 digs per set, the fourth-best in the conference.

CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday, Oct. 10
at the Emerald City Open

FROM THE COACH
"The Emerald City Open feels a bit more like a home meet for us," assistant coach Eric Hansen said. "We have done a few workouts at Lower Woodland Park this season, so the team is very familiar with this course. We saw some things from our last meet that we need to work on, so we will be using this race to work on improving some of our race tactics. As long as we can make those adjustments, we will still be on track for where we want to be by championship season."

ABOUT THE FALCONS

• The Falcons race for the first time since the Mike Johnson Classic on Sept. 26.
  • The SPU men's squad accumulated 237 points for an eighth-place finish on Saturday morning.
    • Avery Erickson had a strong performance, finishing the 8k course in 25:10.0 for an 11th-place finish.
      • Erickson's average mile time was 5:03.7.
    • Newcomer Daniel Ojeda finished 40^th with a time of 26:07.4.
    • Alex Ramos Yin (79^th), Nathan Korth (99^th), and Silas Demmert (101^st) rounded out the scoring for the SPU men.
  • The SPU women's team earned 167 points and were a point away from tying Western Oregon for fifth place.
    • Anna Prussian was the top finisher for the women's team, earning 15^th place with a time of 21:30.3 over the 6k course.
      • Prussian's average mile was 5:46.5.
    • Esther Paulson turned in another impressive run in the early stages of her SPU career, taking 21^st place with a time of 21:40.7.
    • Alexa Gossett (33^rd), Jaylynn Erickson (56^th), and Jocelyn Schnurbusch (60^th) made up the scoring for the Falcons.

WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Oct. 8 – 2:00 p.m.
at Western Oregon – watch – live stats
 
Saturday, Oct. 10 – 11:00 a.m.
at MSU Billings – watch – live stats

FROM THE COACH
"Travel week this week," head coach Arby Busey said. "Travel always presents us with challenges, especially in the GNAC! We are going to log some serious mileage this week. We created some great momentum on Saturday that we will look to build upon. As we move into the second half of the Conference schedule, we begin to play teams a second time which also adds to the challenge based on the familiarity between teams! But we are excited about the opportunities to compete on the road this week."
 
ABOUT THE FALCONS

• The Falcons hosted Northwest Nazarene last Thursday and drew 1-1 with the Nighthawks.
  • Nora Patterson put the Falcons up 1-0 in the 31st minute, unassisted, for her second goal of the season.
• Last Saturday, Natalie Carroll scored two second half goals to help the Falcons beat Central Washington 3-1.
  • The Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute when Andie Buckley played a ball forward to Patterson, who snuck the ball past the keeper with her right foot into the bottom left corner of the goal.
  • Carroll put the Falcons back in front in the 49th minute, scoring a sensational goal off a corner kick that curled into the right side of the net.  
  • Carroll struck again in the 61st minute, powering a shot from 23-yards out that screamed into the back of the net to extend the lead to 3-1.

• The Falcons are 3-2-1 in conference matches this season, and rank third in the GNAC standings with 10 points.
• SPU ranks second in the GNAC in goals scored with 19 in 10 matches played.
• The Falcons have accrued 54 points and lead the GNAC with 5.40 points per game.
• Patterson is second in the GNAC in shots with 28 this season.
• Ashlyn Valdovinos is tied for the most game-winning goals in the conference with two this season.
• Sophie Hanay's five assists are the fourth most by any player in the conference this season.

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