It doesn't get any tougher. With three of the top teams in the region waiting ahead, the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team faces its toughest week. The Falcons (3-3-1) wrap-up their four-game Northern California road trip by visiting UC Davis (5-2-0) Wednesday (Sept. 19) and No. 21-ranked Sonoma State (5-2-0) Friday (Sept. 21). Following an 830-mile drive they arrive home to host No. 3 San Francisco State (5-0-1) Monday afternoon (Sept. 24). Great Northwest Athletic Conference play resumes Sept. 29 at home versus Western Oregon.

Some break, indeed. This break from GNAC play is no vacation. Before the trip even began, the team's Sept. 13 flight from SeaTac Airport was canceled and Coach Bobby Bruch hastily rented three vans later that afternoon for the trip south. The next three opponents are all ranked among the top seven in the Far West Region of NCAA Division II, and Sonoma State and San Francisco State are the third and fourth nationally-ranked teams Seattle Pacific's first-year program has faced in the first month of play.

Can another streak begin? Before arriving in the Bay Area the Falcons put together back-to-back wins for the first time, earning a tie for first place in the GNAC by defeating Central Washington at home and Humboldt State on the road. But then the joy ride ended. Notre Dame de Namur not only defeated SPU in overtime, it also held the team scoreless for the first time, 1-0. Until then, the offense had been purring along and had scored two or more goals in each of the previous five outings.

And in this corner... Lately the most effective aspect of the attack has been the set plays from corner kicks. Of the five goals score versus Central and Humboldt, three were set-up from corners taken by Michelle Sanders (Fr., Centralia, Wa.). It was her cross to Andrea Larsen (Sr., Portland, Or./Central Catholic) which led to the first goal at Interbay. At Arcata, Ca., Sanders found Erin Roberts (Jr., Issaquah, Wa./Issaquah) for the tying goal and Karen France (Fr., Woodland Park, Co./Palmer) for what proved to be the game-winner. Sanders was selected as the GNAC player of the week for her two assists in the latter game. She leads the team with four this season.

Spreading it around. Although the season began with Larsen serving as a one-woman wrecking crew on offense, the wealth has since been spread around. Nine different players from assorted positions have combined for the 13 goals. Only Larsen (4) and Roberts (2) have multiple goals. Two of the regular forwards­Sanders and Tara Wood (Fr., Bellevue, Wa./Newport)­have yet to score but have combined to assist on six goals. It's not quite the second coming of Holland's Total Football of the Seventies, but nearly every player has posed an attacking threat at one time. In fact, Roberts, a defender, is No. 2 in shots with 13.

Footnotes. Last week's GNAC game with Western Washington has been rescheduled for Oct. 6 at 4 p.m. It will now precede a men's game vs. Seattle University that night at Interbay...SPU is 3-1 when leading or tied at halftime. In the second half it has outscored opponents 10-5...The NCAA has determined that Michelle Hunt (Sr., Bellevue, Wa./Newport), a transfer from Northwood (Mich.), cannot play for SPU this season because she attended classes at a junior college in between...Wood, who missed two games after suffering a concussion Aug. 30 at Cal State Dominguez Hills, has returned to the lineup and started at Notre Dame de Namur...Goalkeeper Jennifer Hull (Fr., Eugene, Or./Sheldon) has played every minute of the season so far and will likely play the rest of the way. Her listed backup is midfielder Anna-Kate Peterson (Fr., Portland, Or./Cleveland).

Schedule & Opponent Notes. UC Davis defeated Sonoma State 2-0 but lost to San Francisco State 2-1. The Aggies started the season at 4-0-0 and have out-shot opponents 124-49...Sonoma State began the week by falling to defending NCAA champion UC San Diego 2-1 in overtime. The Cossacks are 3-0-0 vs. GNAC teams this year...San Francisco State vaulted from third to first in the region by beating UC San Diego 1-0 at home last week.

SPU Coaching Staff. Bobby Bruch was hired as the Falcons' first head coach on Oct. 17, 2000. Bruch, an assistant on the SPU men's squad at the time, had been a successful girls coach in Southern California. He guided the West Coast F.C. Shamrocks of Mission Viejo, Ca., to the 1998 U.S. under-19 girls championship and his teams made it to the semifinal and final each on one other occasion. As a player, Bruch was a starting midfielder on Seattle Pacific's back-to-back NCAA men's titles in 1985-86 and later played on championship teams for F.C. Seattle (1988) and the L.A. Heat (1991). Assistant coach Sharon Harrold, a graduate of Redmond's Eastlake High School, played at Texas Christian before graduating from SPU in 2001.