Never been there. A well-traveled Seattle Pacific University men's soccer program ventures to an all-new destination, deep in the heart of Texas this week. The Falcons (8-6-0) plan to begin their final push for an NCAA playoff berth when they play their final two road games. SPU faces Saint Edwards (3-12-1) Thursday (Oct. 18) and Incarnate Word (8-7-0) Saturday (Oct.20) in San Antonio. The final three regular season games will be back at Interbay Stadium, beginning Oct. 26 versus Humboldt State.

It's up for grabs. The playoff picture in the Far West Region is far from clear with only three weeks remaining in the regular season. Two teams will advance to the NCAA Division II tournament and it's likely to be the teams which get hot down the stretch. The Falcons are No. 4 in the region this week despite losing for the third time in four games, albeit to a nationally-ranked Seattle University squad in overtime on the road. Defending national champion Cal State Dominguez Hills and Sonoma State continue to be ranked 1-2 in the region, followed by Grand Canyon. Playoff berths will be announced Nov. 5.

Father and son reunion, sort of. Although they've mutually agreed to avoid head-to-head regular season competition for the time being, Coach Cliff McCrath and his son Steve, the head coach of Miami's Barry University, will share field time this week. Barry, ranked No. 11 in the nation, rounds out the four-team Incarnate Word Classic tournament field in San Antonio. Seattle Pacific and Barry split two regular season meetings the past two seasons. Steve, a 1990 alumnus, played on the 1986 national championship team and was formerly an assistant coach under his father. Cliff is currently the active career leader in collegiate coaching victories with 528.

Haven't been there, done that. Seattle Pacific has long been known for its ambitious travel schedule. In the past 21 years the Falcons have played in 21 states and British Columbia. This will be their first visit to San Antonio and their third stop in Texas. They played at West Texas A&M in 1999. The forecast for later this week in San Antonio is for temperatures near 80 and partly cloudy skies.

Offensively struggling. While Seattle Pacific ranks at the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in goals per game, only two of those goals have come in the last four games. The Falcons have been shut-out twice since a 6-0 defeat of Northwest Nazarene Sept. 29. Defense was McCrath's first order of business in this season's rebuilding effort (nine starters did not return) and largely that phase of reconstruction is complete. Grant Falco (Jr., Spokane, Wa./University) leads the GNAC in assists (8) yet no player has emerged as a consistent finisher. Seven different players have scored between 3-4 goals. The last time the team's top scorer finished with fewer than eight goals was 1970, McCrath's first season as coach.

It's been done before. Obviously the Falcons are intent upon winning their remaining five games to finish 13-6 but McCrath has taken teams with as many as seven losses into the playoffs. That happened in both 1996 and '97 and in '98 SPU lost six games yet still advanced to the Final Four. Six teams have finished the regular season with five or more consecutive wins and each has made the playoffs, including the 1993 squad which won Seattle Pacific's fifth NCAA title.

Footnotes. In the first 14 games, the team scoring first won 13 times...The loss last week to Seattle U. was the third in four overtime games this year. Five of the six losses have been to teams which were nationally-ranked either during or immediately after their meeting with SPU...Goalkeeper James Ward (Fr., Salem, Or./Sprague) is No. 2 in GNAC individual goals-against average (1.33)...Mike Pardini (Jr., Pasco, Wa.), with six assists, trails only Falco in the conference...Falco is second in total points and Erik Skipper (Sr., Hillsboro, Or./Glencoe), with 12, is tied for fourth.

Opponents & series notes. The Falcons have won two and tied once in four previous games played in Texas. This will be the first meeting with Saint Edwards, which made the NCAA tournament in 1999 but has won only once in the last nine games coming into this week...Incarnate Word, like SPU, has lost three of its last four. The Crusaders have won both earlier meetings, including a 1998 match at Interbay in which they were out-shot 26-5 but prevailed 3-2.

Coaching Staff. Cliff McCrath begins the 2001 season as the active leader among all divisions in career coaching victories. He needs 16 to surpass San Francisco's recently-retired Steve Negoesco (543) as the all-time leader. McCrath has led SPU to a record 27 NCAA playoff appearances, including berths in each of the last 11 years, and five national titles (1978, '83, '85, '86 and '93). He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and is a past national coach of the year. His staff includes former Falcons Mark Metzger ('78 championship team), Peter Hattrup ('83 and '85 title teams) and Chuck Granade ('93 NCAA winners).