First place on the line. First place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference will be at stake this week when the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team faces Western Washington (4-1-0, 5-5-0) in back -to-back matches. The Falcons (3-1-0, 4-6-1) travel to Bellingham Wednesday night (Oct. 3) before returning to Interbay Stadium for a Saturday afternoon (Oct. 6) matinee with the Vikings. Next week begins with a visit to preseason GNAC favorite Seattle University (2-2-0, 7-3-0) Oct. 9.

How do they size up? With the remainder of the inaugural season consisting of eight conference contests, the Falcons have an opportunity to prove they are a force to be reckoned with in the GNAC. They have won three league games in a row and three of their non-conference losses were to nationally-ranked teams in NCAA Division II. SPU was picked to finish fifth in the GNAC preseason poll.

Fresh start. The school bells began ringing early last week and so did the victory horns. After dropping four consecutive matches, Coach Bobby Bruch rallied his troops for a fresh start with the return of conference play. Whatever he said or whatever he did worked like a charm because mid way through the second half Andrea Larsen (Sr., Portland, Or./Central Catholic-Oklahoma State) broke through a stingy Western Oregon defense and crossed the ball to Laura Walker (Fr., Colorado Springs, Co./Palmer) for a half-volley. The 1-0 lead on the Wolves was the first in five games for the Falcons.

Suddenly Larsen. Neither Western Oregon nor Larsen was finished. The Wolves tied the game with less than four minutes to play in regulation and seemed to carry the momentum into overtime. But before five minutes elapsed in the extra period, Larsen ended it. She gathered in a loose ball, beat one defender, sidestepped another and rifled a shot inside the right post from six yards for the game-winner. The goal was Larsen's fifth of the year and her first score since Sept. 8. She leads the Falcons in both goals (five) and total points (12). In the conference she's tie for second in goals and fifth in points. Larsen was among a handful of current players who began training under Bruch last spring in preparation for this inaugural season. She left Oklahoma State after the 1999 season as that school's career-scoring leader.

Steel Hull. Goalkeeper Jennifer Hull (Fr., Eugene, Or./Sheldon) stands at just 5-foot-6; not terribly imposing for a position which is charged with protecting 192 square feet. However Hull demonstrated her wares vs. Western Oregon, making five saves, including one with less than three minutes left to keep her team alive. Hull has started all 11 games and has saved 59 shots . Her goals against average of 1.72 ranks fourth in the GNAC and she's third in saves per game. The back line of Michelle Sanders (Fr., Centralia, Wa./Centralia), Erin Roberts (Jr., Issaquah, Wa./Issaquah/Montana) and Katie Lim (Fr., Hillsboro, Or./Hillsboro) have been stingy with opponents, holding them to just seven goals in the last five games.

Footnotes. With her goal vs. Western Oregon, Walker became the 11th different player to score this season...Larsen's eight shots vs. the Wolves will likely last for awhile as a school record. By comparison, the SPU men's record is 12 in one game...The game winning goal was Larsen's first as a Falcon. Only Larsen and Roberts have multiple goals...Leila Stalnaker (Fr., Auburn, Wa./Seattle Christian) may return to action this week. Stalnaker has missed the past nine games since suffering a sprained ankle in the closing minutes of the Aug. 28 game at Vanguard.

Schedule & opponent notes. Wednesday's game at Western will be the only one played on artificial turf this season. The Vikings have won five out of seven since beginning the campaign 0-3...Seattle U. has won five of six, including three in a row.

Tickets, please. Ticket prices are $7 for reserved and $5 for general admission, with students and senior citizens receiving G.A. tickets for $3. Group rates are available by phoning (206) 281-2085 in advance.

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.