The Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team closed out its regular season at home last week, with dominating wins over Western Oregon on Thursday and Montana State Billings on Saturday.
The Falcon women (17-1-2) are ranked first in the West and fourth in the nation in the NSCAA coaches' poll. SPU will likely host the opening round of the NCAA tournament, with two visiting teams - BYU Hawaii (14-4) and UC San Diego (14-3-4) - meeting Thursday evening at Interbay Stadium. The winner will move on to face SPU Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Swift junior midfielder Janae Godoy had both goals in SPU's 2-0 win Thursday afternoon, both on assists from fellow midfielder Shannon Oakes. Freshman defender Savanna Hanson also assisted on one of the goals.
The match was played in a soaking and steady rainstorm before a small but hardy audience of more than 200. But the downpour did not deter the determined home squad, whose crisp passing gave them ample scoring opportunities. The Falcons outshot the visiting Wolves 17-5.
Junior keeper Jesslyn Rahm's two saves in goal protected Thursday's shutout.
Godoy also tallied the first goal Saturday night, her third in a row, just six minutes into the contest. The play started on defender Becca Woods' free kick from past midfield into the box, where junior forward Jocelyn Charette tipped the ball to Godoy for the score in a bang-bang-bang play. Charette earned her team-leading 10th assist on the score.
Junior Kayla Steiegemeier earned the final two goals in Saturday's win over the visiting Yellowjackets from Billings. SPU outshot Montana State, 22-3 in the match.
"I think we've peaked at the right time," said Falcons coach Chuck Sekyra. "We're playing well defensively, playing well as a team, and a lot of different player are scoring goals. It's hard just to lock down one person."
Sophomore Maddie Dickinson, who shares goalkeeping duties for the stingy Falcon defense with Rahm, picked up Saturday's shutout, her seventh of the season and the team's 14th. The Falcons did not allow a goal in their last five conference games and kept GNAC opponents off the board for the final 487 minutes of the season.
Fans should save Saturday afternoon to see the superlative Falcon women in what will be their last home appearance. If they win Saturday and continue with tournament play, those games will be out of town.[[In-content Ad]]
