Tough match on Tuesday. All alone in first place after extending their Great Northwest Athletic Conference win streak to five games last week, the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team pays a visit to preseason favorite Seattle University (3-2-0, 10-3-0) Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 9). The Falcons (5-1-0, 6-6-1) then venture to Central Washington (0-6-0, 2-11-1) Monday (Oct. 15) for their next-to-last road game. The next home game is Oct. 22 versus Humboldt State.

Conference picture. With just six games remaining in their inaugural season, the Falcons are perched in first place atop the GNAC. They swept a pair of games with Western Washington last week for their second and third wins in a row. Seattle Pacific has won five straight league games since losing its GNAC opener at Northwest Nazarene. Three of their non-conference losses were to nationally-ranked teams in NCAA Division II. Seattle U. lost its first two GNAC games but has rebounded to win its last seven games, four by shutout. SPU was picked to finish fifth in the GNAC preseason poll.

A knack for GNAC. They've had difficulty toppling teams in California but when it comes to conference play the Falcons have proven quite formidable. Western Washington was picked to finish second in the league yet SPU was able to pull away in the second half of each encounter last week. Coach Bobby Bruch prides his teams on being tremendously fit and SPU has outscored its last six GNAC opponents 9-3 after halftime. For the entire season, it has a 15-9 edge in the second half and owns an overall record of 6-2-0 when tied or leading at intermission.

Super Sanders. Lots of players just want to score goals and lots of coaches want to deploy their top athlete at sweeper. Somehow Michelle Sanders (Fr., Centralia, Wa.) has managed to remain an integral part of the attack while playing on defense. Witness her contribution last week: Sanders scored a pair of goals in Bellingham to beat Western and added two assists in the home win three nights later. Her first goal of the season came on a header from a free kick, a shot which ³nearly broke the net,² said Bruch. The game-winner in the 82nd minute came directly from a corner kick which Sanders curled around the post.

Andrea's got the golden cleat. Sanders owes some of the credit on the latter goal to Andrea Larsen (Sr., Portland, Or./Central Catholic-Oklahoma State), who screened the goalie on the play. Larsen then added her team-leading sixth goal of the season in the return game with Western and added an assist on the game's final goal, scored by Melissa Ellingson (Fr., Shoreline, Wa./Shorewood). Larsen leads the team and is eighth in the GNAC with 15 points. However in GNAC games alone, Larsen is second with four goals and 10 points while Sanders leads with six assists in as many GNAC games.

Footnotes. Bruch has added midfielder Angie Ocampo (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Mountain View-Clark CC) to the roster. Ocampo, who came to SPU on a track & field scholarship, played with LeRin Farrison (Jr., Vancouver, Wa./Mountain View-Highline CC) and Larsen while in high school...Eleven different Falcons have scored goals. Erin Roberts (Jr., Issaquah, Wa./Issaquah-Montana) is second on the team in goals with three, including the game-winner in Game 2 with the Vikings...SPU continues to be on the mend. Leila Stalnaker (Fr., Auburn, Wa./Seattle Christian) returned to action last Saturday against the Vikings. Stalnaker had missed 10 games since suffering a sprained ankle in the closing minutes of the Aug. 28 game at Vanguard...Also back in action last week was Alissa Peterson (So., Plymouth, Mn./Wayzata-Wisconsin), who missed three games with a knee injury...Still listed as questionable is BreeAnn Milligan (Fr., Idaho Falls, Id./Skyline), who has missed three games with an foot sprain. Milligan started the first 10 games...Goalie Jennifer Hull (Fr., Eugene, Or./Sheldon) is fourth in GNAC goals-against average (1.61.).

Schedule & opponent notes. Seattle U. has the top defense in the GNAC, having allowed just 10 goals in 13 games. The Falcons and Redhawks play again Nov. 1 at Interbay to close out the home season...SPU defeated Central Washington 2-1 in its inaugural home game Sept. 8. Larsen and Farrision scored the goals. Six of the Wildcats' losses have been by one goal, with the remainder by two goals.

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.