BELLINGHAM, Wash. – All good things have to come to an end, and today it was the 39-game winning streak for the Western Washington University women’s soccer team.

Concordia University scored a goal late in each half, and sophomore goalkeeper Anna Miller recorded 8 saves, leading the Cavaliers to a 2-0 victory Saturday afternoon at Harrington Field, clinching the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title.

With its first loss in 695 days, the Vikings dropped to 15-1-0 on the season and finished 2nd in the GNAC at 11-1-0, snapping a string of five consecutive regular-season conference titles. The 39-game winning streak established a school and state of Washington collegiate record, and enters the record books as the 4th-longest in NCAA Division II history. The Vikings also had a string of 30 consecutive home wins snapped and had a 64-game unbeaten streak vs. conference opponents ended.

Concordia clinched the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference championships that it will host in Portland, Ore., improving to 14-2-1 overall and 11-0-1 in GNAC play.

“I thought we actually played really well today. We created a lot of chances, defended really well and I felt like we controlled most of the game,” said WWU head coach Travis Connell. “But that always doesn’t get you a victory and today it didn’t. You have to give a lot of credit to Concordia. They had a great plan, were super motivated and defended really well.”

The Vikings held a decisive 23-3 advantage in shots, and a 9-3 edge in shots on goal, but were held without a goal for the first time in 65 games. The shutout was the 10th of the season for the Cavaliers.

Concordia had an early opportunity turned away at the 1:11 mark, when a header by Kasey Ames was punched away by WWU goalkeeper Ashley Homer (Puyallup, WA/College of Saint Rose) to prevent the go-ahead goal.

The Vikings had a golden opportunity to pull in front in the 10th minute, when Concordia defender Ana Delgadillo was given a yellow card for a handball penalty after preventing an apparent goal from crossing the goal line. Senior Emily Webster (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) took the penalty kick, but Miller guessed correctly on her dive to the lower right corner of the goal for the save.

The Cavaliers struck in the 32nd minute to put the Vikings in their first deficit of the season. Junior midfielder Gabrielle Ewing took a pass off a free kick from Delgadillo, and curled her shot from 18 yards to the far post past a diving Homer.

The Vikings had a few close calls in the second half, but couldn’t find the equalizer with Miller recording 6 of her 8 saves in the final period. CU added an insurance goal in the 82nd minute when Quinn Williams finished a cross from Sydney Van Steenberge to the far post from three yards out.

The Vikings will be the No. 2 seed in the GNAC Championships that will be hosted by Concordia at Tuomien Yard at Hilken Community Stadium in Portland. WWU will play No. 3 seed Seattle Pacific at 4 pm on Thursday, with the No. 1 seed Cavaliers playing No. 4 Northwest Nazarene at 7 pm.

“I don’t think we’ll have any trouble rebounding from this loss. Knowing our team, they wish they could play tomorrow,” added Connell. “They have unfinished business and this will motivate them and very well could be the best thing to happen to us.”

Game Notes: WWU had its unbeaten streak vs. GNAC opponents snapped at 64 (58-0-6), the 2nd-longest unbeaten streak in DII history vs. conference opponents (regular season + postseason)…today’s loss snapped a 29-game winning streak vs. GNAC opponents, dating back to a 1-1 tie vs. Concordia in 2015…the Vikings had scored a goal in 45 consecutive games vs. GNAC opponents dating back to 0-0 tie vs. Central Washington in 2014…unbeaten streak vs. West Region opponents was snapped at 50 straight (48-0-2)…WWU allowed 2 goals in a game for the first time since 9/14/16 vs. UC San Diego (36-game streak)…overall WWU has allowed only 6 goals this season…Emily Webster played in her 86th career game, 5th-most in program history…Saturday was Senior Day with Colleen Lindsay, Malia Maack, Sierra Shugarts, Ashley Homer and Emily Webster honored in a pregame ceremony in their final regular-season game at Harrington Field…loss snapped a 30-game winning streak at Harrington Field, tied for the 7th-longest home winning streak in NCAA II history…first regular-season home defeat since Oct. 27, 2012 vs. Seattle Pacific in a game played at Whatcom Community College.