HOME EVENTS THIS WEEK

ON THE ROAD ...

NOTES FOR THIS WEEK...

• The Wolves women's soccer team is set to compete in the semifinal of the GNAC Championships as the No. 3 seed against No. 2 Western Washington at 4 p.m. on Thursday in Ellensburg, Washington. WOU went 1-1 against defending national champion Western Washington this season, winning 1-0 at home and falling 1-0 on the road. WOU is 2-2-1 against the Vikings over the last five meetings.
• This is WOU's first appearance in the GNAC Championships since 2019 and fourth overall. The Wolves are 0-3 in the GNAC Championships (which began in 2012). This will be third time WOU has faced WWU in the GNAC Championships (the Wolves faced Seattle Pacific in their other appearance in 2019).
• The Wolves tied both matches last week, 2-2 at Central Washington and 0-0 at Northwest Nazarene. 
• Hannah Rispler and Lulu Sadler were named to the All-GNAC First Team on Tuesday, while Chloe Smith, Jenna Efraimson, and Elizabeth Parker were named to the All-GNAC Second Team. Raeanne Jones received All-GNAC Honorable Mention..

• WOU is coming off a trip to Alaska where it went 1-1, losing at Alaska Anchorage in four sets and beating Alaska Fairbanks in four.
• The Wolves are going for its first 10-win season since 2016 after picking up its ninth win Saturday at Fairbanks. If the Wolves reach 11 wins on the season, it would be the most wins for the program since going 21-6 in 2012.
• Madison Hornback leads the GNAC in kills per set (3.64), points per set (4.14) and attacks per set. 
• The Wolves lost at Western Washington - Thursday's opponent - 3-1 on Oct. 14. WOU has lost 22 straight against the Vikings.
• WOU fell in the three sets at Simon Fraser - Saturday's opponent - on Oct. 12. WOU beat Simon Fraser for the first time since 2013 last season, rallying from an 0-2 deficit to win in five at New PE Building. WOU is 8-17 overall against the Red Leafs - including 4-8 at home.

• WOU stayed in the hunt for a GNAC title in just the program's second year of existence as it defeated MSU Billings 2-1 and tied Seattle Pacific 3-3 (in a match it trailed 3-1) to finish the regular season undefeated at home (5-0-2) and move its unbeaten streak to five.
• Since there were cancelations to games due to weather, the standings come down to points per match. Simon Fraser leads the conference at 2.44 points per match with WOU in second at 2.18. There is no postseason tournament in men's soccer, therefore the conference champion gets the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
• WOU has one match left at Seattle Pacific on Saturday while the Red Leafs have two matches left - at MSU Billings on Thursday (the teams haven't played yet this season as one of the games canceled was their matchup earlier this season) and at home against Northwest Nazarene (SFU beat the Nighthawks 1-0 in Idaho on Nov. 2). 
• For WOU to win the GNAC title, it will take a win (moving WOU to 2.25) and SFU going 0-2 (2.0), 0-1-1 (2.09) or 0-0-2 (2.18) or a tie (2.08) and SFU going 0-2 (2.0). The teams would tie at 2.0 if both teams lost their games and be declared GNAC Co-Champions - but SFU would get the automatic NCAA berth due to having more points in head-to-head matches (SFU has four points - a win and a tie - while WOU has one point - a tie).

FOOTBALL | Lone Star Standings

• The Wolves are fell at home to Texas A&M-Kingsville 34-27 in their home finale Saturday - moving to 3-7 on the season overall and 2-5 in LSC play.
• WOU takes on an Angelo State that entered the season a top-five ranked team in the nation and has gone 6-3 on teh season - including 5-2 in LSC play. The Rams' three losses, however, are to current top 25 teams in No. 1 Colorado School of Mines (31-21), at No. 23 Central Washington (27-24) and No. 17 UT Permian Basin (28-23).
• WOU is 0-3 since 2000 against Angelo State, including losing 30-7 to the Rams last season at home when ASU was ranked third in the nation (the Rams fell to Colorado School of Mines in the NCAA quarterfinals - ending 2022 12-1 while CSM would eventually lose in the national championship game).

• The Wolves women's basketball team opens its first season under head coach Jessica Peatross against Academy of Art 7:30 p.m. Friday before facing Westmont College at 2:15 p.m.- both games are held at the NPE Building.
• Last season, the Wolves went 13-13 and finished 7-11 in the GNAC, tying for 7th place
• WOU was picked to finish ninth out of 10 teams in the GNAC Preseason Poll.
• Cali McClave was selected to the GNAC Preseason All-Conference team after being named to the All-GNAC Second Team last season. The Corvallis native led the Wolves in scoring (17.2 - fourth in the GNAC), steals (2.2), 3-pointers made (49), free throw percentage (82.3) and minutes per game (34.2) while also averaging 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. 
• The Wolves return seven players, including Kiylynn Dawkins, who averaged 9.2 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game last season, and Ana McClave, who averaged 5.2 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game.

• The Wolves open the 2023-24 campaign 3 p.m. Friday at 13th-ranked San Bernardino at the GNAC/CCAA Conference Challenge. WOU turns around and plays CSU Monterey Bay 11 a.m. Saturday.
• WOU is coming off a 12-14 season, including a 9-9 mark in conference play - good for a tie for fourth place and a spot into the GNAC postseason tournament (the Wolves lost in the opening round to Central Washington).
• WOU was picked to finish eighth in the conference this season.
• Cameron Benzel was a unanimous selection to the 2023-24 GNAC Preseason All-Conference Team after last season finishing second on the Wolves in scoring (11.5) and rebounding (6.1 - sixth in the GNAC) while leading the team in field goal percentage (62.6 percent - second in the GNAC) and blocked shots (0.8 - 12th in the GNAC). This goes along with 1.3 assists and 0.9 steals per game in the Umpqua Community College transfer's first season playing for WOU. He was named Honorable Mention All-GNAC last season as well.
• Overall the Wolves return nine players from last season, including three starters: Benzel,  Qiant Myers (6.5 ppg, 6.0 apg, 3.4 rpg, 1.3 spg) and Jahville Collins (9.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 46.7 3FG%).
• It's the third season in a row WOU is playing CSU San Bernardino and CSU Monterey Bay to start the season, losing in Seaside, California in 2021 to CSUSB (82-78 in OT) and CSUMB (82-60) and last season losing at home to CSUSB (76-64) and defeating CSUMB (87-80).