WWU women’s soccer team advances to national semifinals

For the second time in three seasons, the Western Washington University women’s soccer team will head to the national semifinals of the NCAA Division II Tournament.

The No. 2 Vikings advanced Saturday with a 3-1 quarterfinal victory over No. 6 Dallas Baptist on Saturday, Nov. 21, at Harrington Field.

Senior forward Catherine Miles scored two second-half goals in a 10-minute span to break a 1-1 tie and send the Vikings to the Final Four Dec. 3-5 at Pensacola, Fla.

Junior midfielder Caitlyn Jobanek scored the first goal for Western unassisted in the 14th minute of play, beginning on the 40-yard line and beating four defenders for a shot deep into the left corner of the net.

The effort was similar to Jobanenk’s performance two days earlier in the West Regional final against Azusa Pacific, when her single goal brought Western the win.

“Getting a goal in the beginning of the game definitely helps us settle down and start to connect and play our game,” she said.

The Vikings (21-1-1) out shot Dallas Baptist 27-9, and Patriots‘ keeper Jenna Ackerly had six saves over Ashley Haden’s two for Western.

The Patriots responded to the Viking 1-0 lead at half time by scoring 15 minutes into the second half with an unassisted drive from sophomore forward McKenna Namken from 16 yards out.

“You’ve got to give credit to Baptist; they came out, they had energy and they got the goal back,” Western coach Travis Connell said. “But then it was just another quality performance by us. You saw our maturity, our experienced players, and we did well answering that goal and then getting the insurance goal we needed.”

It was Miles who delivered the answer and the insurance, as she increased her team-leading total to 13 goals this season.

Miles earned her first goal on an exciting second-chance opportunity, and Miles tucked it in midway though the second half. With nine minutes left in the game she increased the Viking lead to 3-1 with a header off a corner kick.

Western’ has improved its passing game immensely in the postseason, which was a goal, Miles said, and that will give the team confidence to keep winning.

“I think we really held it together,” Miles said. “We went through a few lulls in the beginning of the second half, but we definitely pulled through and capitalized on our opportunities and pulled it around again.”

This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 6:09 PM with the headline "WWU women’s soccer team advances to national semifinals."