Soccer set to face Seattle Pacific in GNAC Tournament Thursday night

SEATTLE – Making their first trip to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament since 2013, the Western Oregon University soccer team will face Seattle Pacific for the third time this season and second time in less than two weeks when the teams face each other Thursday night starting at 7 p.m. on Seattle Pacific's home field.

The top-four teams advanced to the tournament with Western Washington taking home the regular season title, with Seattle Pacific second, Western Oregon third and Central Washington in fourth. Western Washington and Central Washington will face each other in the first game on Thursday at 4 p.m.

Since a loss to nationally-ranked Western Washington, Western Oregon closed the regular season on a torrid pace going 5-1-1 with the only loss coming in late double-overtime at Seattle Pacific back on Nov. 2. During the run the Wolves had three shutouts and picked up a pair of 3-1 wins.

In the first meeting of the season with Seattle Pacific, WOU scored a pair of early second half goals to take the 2-0 victory on Oct. 5. Alyssa Tomasini and Isabelle Creighton each collected goals that were scored just over two minutes apart. Alex Qualls made four saves to pick-up the shutout. During the most recent meeting in Seattle just a few weeks ago, the Falcons tallied the only first half goal before a goal by Creighton in the 67^th minute evened the score. Just when it looked like the teams might play to a draw, Seattle Pacific scored the game-winning goal in the 108^th minute to take the 2-1 victory. Qualls was strong in net facing 22 shots, with eight landing on goal and coming away with six saves.

Last time out, WOU (10-5-3, 7-3-2 GNAC) is coming off of a 3-1 win over Central Washington for their 10^th victory of the season, the most since the team won 11 back in 2002. It was a crazy start to the game with both teams scoring in the third minute. The Wildcats struck first and then just 14 seconds later, Tomasini scored the first of her two first half goals to put WOU ahead for good.

The Wolves finished the regular season with a strong 6-1-1 home record. WOU is 3-4-2 in true road contests and 1-0-0 in neutral site games.
WOU enters the GNAC Tournament having scored 29 goals and allowing just 18. The Wolves have fired 222 shots, with 97 on goal, while opponents have taken 169 shots with 69 on goal. Corner kicks continue to favor WOU having taken 130 to 68 for opponents.

As a team, the 83 points this year ranks fourth in program history (since NCAA Division II records in 2000). The 29 goals is also fourth, the 10 game-winning goals is third and the 25 assists are good for fourth. The seven team shutouts are tied for second. Tomasini's 25 points are tied for second-most in a season and her nine goals are tied for second in program history for a single season. Her four game-winning goals are tied for the most in a single season.

This season, Tomasini paced the GNAC in goals (9), points (25) and game-winning goals (4), while dishing out the second-most assists (7). She's earned a pair of GNAC Player of the Week honors and three times this season she has scored multiple goals. Tomasini has a goal in six games this season. Her top point matches were a pair of five-point performances against Western Colorado and Simon Fraser, while adding a four-point effort against Central Washington. Tomasini ranks 63^rd nationally in assists per game (0.39), 37^th nationally in game-winning goals, 81^st nationally in points per game (1.39), 47^th nationally in total assists, 87^th nationally in total goals and 59^th nationally in total points.

Selene Konyn and Creighton are also in double-figures in terms of points with Konyn checking in with 14 and Creighton at 13. Konyn has tallied five goals and four assists, along with a game-winning goal, while Creighton has four goals and five assists, along with a game-winning goal. Kaili Brundage has posted nine points with four goals and an assist, while Danielle VanOrd has five points with a goal and three assists. Nikki Hoey, Kaitlin Poe and Jacky Beristain all have four points.

The defense that has helped put together seven shutouts this year has been led by Beristain, Malia Napoleon, Poe and Hoey. Beristain and Napoleon have played all 1,702 minutes of the season, Poe has logged 1,669 and Hoey is at 1,527. Qualls has recorded six individual shutouts, good for second in the GNAC as she has played in 1,656 minutes, starting all 18 games, making 51 saves, posting a 0.98 goals against average and has all 10 victories in goal. Qualls is first in the GNAC and 14^th nationally in minutes played and second in the GNAC in goals against average.

In terms of GNAC and national rankings, WOU is second in the GNAC in shutout percentage (.389) and in won-lost percentage (.639). The Wolves are third in the GNAC in assists per game (1.39), 77^th nationally, goals against average (.952), 79^th nationally, points per game (4.61), scoring offense (1.61), total assists (25), 68^th nationally, total goals (29) and in total points (83).

Seattle Pacific is 11-7 overall on the season and finished with a 9-3 mark in GNAC action. The Falcons are 6-2 at home this season and outside of a pair of losses to Western Washington, Seattle Pacific's last loss was at WOU on Oct. 5. If you take out the WWU losses and since falling in Monmouth, the Falcons finished the regular season 6-0. Last time out, Seattle Pacific rolled to a 4-0 win over Northwest Nazarene. The Falcons scored two goals in each half with Sophia Chilczuk tallying a pair of goals. The Falcons dominated possession firing 22 shots with 10 on goal while holding the Nighthawks to four shots and one on goal.

The Falcons will be on their home field for the game Thursday hosting the GNAC Tournament at Interbay Stadium. On the season, Seattle Pacific has 31 goals to 17 for opponents, have tallied 275 shots with 111 on goal, while opponents have 152 shots with 62 on goal. Corner kicks have been fairly even with SPU holding a slight 68-66 edge.

Four players have double-digits in points led by 16 from Chilczuk with seven goals and two assists. Chloe Gellhaus has 13 points with six goals and an assist, Claire Neder adds 12 points with five goals and two assists and Sierra Smith rounds out the group with 11 points on four goals and three assists.

Riley Travis has started 15 games in goal posting eight wins, a 0.97 goals against average, 29 saves and five shutouts.

If WOU was to win Thursday, they would advance to Saturday's championship game that would take place at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Western Washington/Central Washington game. Live video can be found here and live stats found here.

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Players Mentioned

#8 Jacky Beristain: D; 5' 7"; Senior

#3 Kaili Brundage: F; 5' 0"; Senior

#9 Isabelle Creighton: F; 5' 0"; Senior

#4 Nikki Hoey: D; 5' 6"; Junior

#14 Selene Konyn: M; 5' 2"; Senior

#18 Malia Napoleon: D; 5' 6"; Junior

#6 Kaitlin Poe: D; 5' 7"; Senior

#0 Alex Qualls: GK; 6' 0"; Senior

#24 Alyssa Tomasini: F; 5' 8"; Junior

#13 Danielle VanOrd: F; 5' 4"; Junior

Players Mentioned

#8 Jacky Beristain
: 5' 7"; Senior
: D

#3 Kaili Brundage
: 5' 0"; Senior
: F

#9 Isabelle Creighton
: 5' 0"; Senior
: F

#4 Nikki Hoey
: 5' 6"; Junior
: D

#14 Selene Konyn
: 5' 2"; Senior
: M

#18 Malia Napoleon
: 5' 6"; Junior
: D

#6 Kaitlin Poe
: 5' 7"; Senior
: D

#0 Alex Qualls
: 6' 0"; Senior
: GK

#24 Alyssa Tomasini
: 5' 8"; Junior
: F

#13 Danielle VanOrd
: 5' 4"; Junior
: F