WWU women’s soccer wins NCAA D-II semifinal

Catherine Miles scored the first and final goal to bring Western Washington University a 1-0 victory over rival Seattle Pacific in the NCAA Division II Womens’ Soccer West Regional semifinal at Harrington Field.

Miles scored on an assist from Savanna Moorehouse with 4:55 left on the clock in the second half to end the scoreless back-and-forth defensive game from both teams on Saturday, Nov. 14.

“We know we can score in the first five minutes of the game, we can score in the last 10 seconds of the game, like we’ve done before,” Miles said. “So, for us it wasn’t a matter of scoring but when it was going to happen. It’s going to happen at some point.”

Seattle Pacific’s season ended with the loss to Western. It was the Falcon’s fourth defeat to the Vikings this season.

As arch rivals who have faced off recently, each team knew there would not be many chances and no tricks on the field, Western coach Travis Connell said. When those chances came, they had to be capitalized on quickly.

The first half was an aggressive game by each team’s defense. Seattle Pacific would not let the Vikings get too close to the net, although Western controlled the field for the majority of the time, putting pressure on the Falcons.

The ball was often in the air, moved along by headers in the first half nearly as often as the players used their feet.

The second half was more controlled, with much more ground play and offensive strategies from the Falcons.

Seattle Pacific had their chances at a lead early in the second half with two close shots on goal, one by Isabel Farrell that hit the left post and a deep kick by Hannah Huesers that Viking goalkeeper Ashley Haden hit up over the crossbar.

She trusted her defense and it stepped up to make her job easier, Haden said.

“We knew that we had to play smart,” she said. “We knew they were going to throw a bunch of people forward just trying to get that last goal in the last few minutes. ... We knew defensively as a team we had to stay compact, we had to win the balls in the air and we had to leave it out on the field.”

The Vikings, leading the West Region and ranked No. 2 nationally in the NCAA Division II Coaches Poll will host the regional championship against Azuza Pacific at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 19, at Harrington Field.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 6:54 PM with the headline "WWU women’s soccer wins NCAA D-II semifinal."