Top-Ranked Vikings Blank Simon Fraser 4-0

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Junior forward Karli White scored twice and the No.-1 ranked Western Washington University women’s soccer team recorded its fourth consecutive shutout with a 4-0 victory over visiting Simon Fraser in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday evening at Harrington Field.

WWU (6-0-0, 2-0-0 GNAC) extended its win streak to 30 games (4th-longest in NCAA II history) and upped its unbeaten streak to 31 games (8th-longest in NCAA II history) while winning a 26th consecutive home game (tied for 11th-longest in NCAA II history). Simon Fraser dropped to 2-4-0 overall and 0-2-0 in conference action.

White (North Bend, WA, Mount Si/Seattle U.) recorded her second consecutive two-goal game, scoring the first WWU goal in the 29th minute before helping the Vikings double the lead with a second goal in the 52nd minute. WWU added a pair of late goals from sophomore forward Liv Larson (Arlington, WA) and sophomore forward Emily Bunnell (Kirkland, WA, Lake Washington) during the 83rd minute to bolster the lead.

The first WWU goal came with assists from junior forward Gabriela Pelogi (Federal Way, WA) and freshman forward Zoe Milburn (Maple Valley, WA/Tahoma) as White received a pass in the 18-yard box, took one touch to her right and scored from 10 yards away for her fifth goal of the season.

White scored an unassisted goal during the 52nd minute, beating defenders from near the top of the 18-yard box and firing a shot from the left side of the box to the far post for a 2-0 WWU advantage. White’s sixth goal of the season tied her with Pelogi for the conference lead in goals, while the forwards are also tied for the GNAC lead with 16 points apiece.

Larson built the lead to 3-0 with her fifth goal of the year in the 83rd minute, taking a pass from junior midfielder Sophia Kallas (Boise, Idaho) and scoring to the upper-right corner of the net from near the top of the box.

Bunnell netted her first goal of the season in the 83rd minute as well, after a cross from Larson went off the goalkeeper’s hands and found the feet of Bunnell for the close-range finish.

In addition to finishing with a goal and an assist, Larson also nearly gave WWU a lead in the 19th minute with a shot that went off the crossbar. Larson has 3 goals and 2 assists over her last two games while White has totaled 4 goals and 2 assists in the last two contests.

The Vikings outshot the Clan 26-5 and had 5 corner kick opportunities while holding Simon Fraser without a corner kick. The Vikings totaled 9 shots on goal while the Clan put 3 shots on target.

Senior goalkeeper Ashley Homer (Puyallup, WA/College of Saint Rose) made 3 saves during the shutout effort. The WWU defense has held opponents without a goal for the last 394:27 of game play during its streak of four straight shutout victories.

Simon Fraser goalkeeper Priya Sandhu finished with 5 saves for the Clan.

WWU heads to Saint Martin’s for its first conference road game of the season on Saturday, facing the Saints at 1 pm. The Vikings will play two more road games at Central Washington (Sept. 28) and Montana State Billings (Sept. 30) before returning home in early October.

Vikings Win GNAC Opener 3-2 Over Saint Martin’s

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men’s soccer team scored once in the first half and twice in the second half for a lead and held off Saint Martin’s after the Saints netted two goals over the last 10 minutes of the game en route to a 3-2 win on Thursday evening at Harrington Field in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

The Vikings improved to 2-2-2 overall and will travel to Seattle Pacific on Saturday to continue the conference schedule. Saint Martin’s dropped to 0-6-0 with its fourth consecutive defeat by a deficit of one goal.

WWU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute when senior midfielder Luke Olney (Enumclaw, WA) received a cross from junior defender Stephen Jinneman (Redmond, WA) in the right side of the 18-yard box and finished to the far post from 7 yards away. It was the second goal of the season for Olney.

The Vikings doubled their advantage during the 60th minute as freshman forward Drew Farnsworth (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys) scored his first collegiate goal with an assist from junior forward Jose Castillo (Bellevue, WA/Interlake). Castillo found Farnsworth with a through ball pass from near the top of the 18-yard box and Farnsworth blasted his shot into the upper-right corner of the goal from the right side of the box for a 2-0 lead.

Freshman midfielder Georg Cholewa (Leipzig, Germany/Sportgymnasium Chemnitz) gave WWU a 3-0 lead in the 78th minute, scoring to the near post with a one-touch finish from 5 yards away. Senior forward Anthony Dean (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Bellevue College) sent a pass from the center of the field out to senior forward Kyle Danielson (Des Moines, WA/Mount Rainier/Highline CC) who had space to deliver a low cross to the feet of Cholewa for the goal.

The Saints played a man down from the 33rd minute onward after midfielder Sebastian Navarro received his second yellow card of the game, resulting in a red card. Saint Martin’s forward Will Eldred was also issued a red card during the 67th minute and the Saints were left with 9 players on the field from that point forward, but still were able to score a pair of goals and create a tight finish.

Defender McKray Kohn erased the shutout in the 81st minute, stealing a loose ball from the backline of the WWU defense and scoring from 7 yards away. The Saints quickly cut the deficit to one goal on a penalty kick goal, scored by Brandon Madsen, in the 83rd minute.

Saint Martin’s was awarded a final corner kick in the closing seconds of the game but time expired with the buzzer sounding just after Saints players in the box jumped and contacted the cross with a header.

The Vikings held a 15-5 edge in total shots and an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal for the game, and took 6 corner kicks compared with 5 for the Saints. WWU nearly scored two additional goals, first when an offside penalty prevented what appeared to be a goal in the first half and in another instance when Farnsworth fired a shot off the crossbar in the 71st minute.

WWU faces Seattle Pacific on Saturday night with a 7 pm start time. Following Saturday’s game, WWU will play at Concordia next Saturday (Sept. 30) before returning home for a stretch of four consecutive home games.

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