Sports - Local Colleges

POSTED: Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

WWU WOMEN'S SOCCER: Vikings' GNAC title chances dealt blow after tie

Western Washington University attempted 40 shots, but couldn't find the go-ahead goal and tied Northwest Nazarene University 1-1 in overtime in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer contest Thursday, Nov. 5, at Orca Field.

The Vikings, who extended their unbeaten streak to six games, are 10-4-4 overall, but fell out of first place in the GNAC standings at 7-1-3 as Seattle Pacific moved into the lead at 8-2-1 with a 3-2 overtime victory Thursday at Montana State-Billings.

Western, No. 6 in this week's official NCAA Division II West Region rating, likely need to win the GNAC title to earn an NCAA tournament berth. To do that Western must win its final game of the regular season at Montana State-Billings on Saturday, Nov. 7, and have Seattle Pacific lose or tie against Northwest Nazarene the same day.

The Crusaders, who scored for the first time in six games, are 3-11-4 overall and 1-9-1 in the GNAC.

Thursday's contest was halted for about 20 minutes early in the second half by a power outage, and was stopped again later in the half when the wind knocked over the goal at the north end, forcing it to be replaced. Two people were then put behind each goal to hold down the goal supports for the rest of the contest.

Western nearly scored against the wind in the 10th minute, but NNU goalkeeper Tanya Zickefoose made two saves from shots inside 8 yards about five seconds apart.

Three minutes into the second half, Western's Molly Shannon scored from 7 yards out after midfielder Jenny Barton eluded a series of defenders to get a cross in from the left side.

But the Crusaders evened the score with just under 29 minutes left in regulation as Stacey Beckman hit a volley from the top of the penalty area that grazed the crossbar and dropped into the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Western had numerous chances to regain the lead, twice hitting the crossbar. Forward Claire Morgan hit the bar off the kickoff immediately after Beckman's goal, then with seven minutes left, forward Lucy Miller hit the bar from 15 yards.

"We fought a lot of elements, not just our opponent," said Western coach Travis Connell. "We got a draw, but we were hoping for a win. We played hard, we created a lot of chances, but we couldn't get that one to go in.

"Now we have to get up for the game Saturday. We need a win in Montana if we're going to have any chance."