Home, sweet home. Following another impressive weekend in which it tied one of the region's best teams and overcame adversity to win its first conference game on the road, the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team kicks-off a four-game home stand this week. The Falcons (3-3-0/5-4-2), unbeaten in their last three outings, host a non-conference match against Carroll College (2-5-2) Tuesday night (Oct. 8) and then resume Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Thursday night (Oct. 10) against Humboldt State (3-2-0/6-5-1). They will take the weekend off before facing Grand Canyon Oct. 17.

Climbing the GNAC ladder. With nine games remaining, SPU controls its own destiny in the conference race. Four of the final six GNAC counters will be played at Interbay Stadium, where the Falcons have lost just twice in their last 11 starts. With a win Thursday they can overtake Humboldt State, the No. 8 team in the Far West Region, for fourth in the league standings. Western Oregon, currently the conference leader and fifth in the region, visits Oct. 19. Western Washington comes to town Oct. 30 and SPU completes the regular season Nov. 2 at Seattle University. Both are ahead in the standings to date.

Getting to know each other. To say that Coach Bobby Bruch's team is young would be a gross understatement. In all, 22 of 24 players on the roster are underclassmen. Perhaps it was because of youth that Seattle Pacific started slowly, winning just one of its first five contests. As of late, Bruch has his Falcons on a tear and he attributes the positive results to simply more experience playing together. Seattle Pacific has lost only one of its last six matches, including a well deserved 1-1 draw with regionally-ranked Cal State Dominguez and, less than 24 hours later, a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at Central Washington to push the team over .500 for the first time.

Scored early, but not often. If it was fitting that Seattle Pacific scored its first goal at the seven-minute mark against Dominguez Hills, it was certainly not fitting that the Falcons didn't score again, and again. With fans still settling into their seats, Megan Lienhard (Fr., Everett, Wa./Cascade) took a pass from the foot of LeRin Farrison (Sr., Seattle, Wa./Mountain View/Highline CC) and guided it to the right corner. The attacking pressure only intensified after that. SPU dominated, out-shooting the Toros 16-6, including four near-misses in as many minutes during the first overtime period but thanks to the 11 saves of Toros goalie Alba Garcia, a Mexican national team member, Dominguez Hills stayed close and eventually salvaged the tie on a goal with less than seven minutes left in regulation.

A li'l rest for the weary. After his team ran hard for 110 minutes vs. CSDH and traveled for over two hours across the Cascades to Ellensburg the next morning, Bruch elected to rest most of his regular starters during the first half against Central Washington. The Wildcats held a 1-0 lead at the break but then Seattle Pacific came on strong, out-shooting their hosts 10-3 in the second period. Two quick goals proved to be the difference. Midfielder Jessica Henson (So., Spokane, Wa./University) knotted the score with her fourth goal of the season in the 64th minute. Less than four minutes later Michelle Sanders (So., Centralia, Wa.) converted a breakaway set-up by Shannon Lovejoy (Fr., Seattle, Wa./Seattle Prep) for the deciding goal.

The defense. Bruch's defensive triad of Nicole Ruiz (Jr., Federal Way, Wa./Federal Way-Barry), Jean Kolb (Fr., Eugene, Or./South Eugene) and Katie Lim (So., Hillsboro, Or.) had their work cut out for them in the Dominguez Hills match as opposing forwards Diane Garza and Tanya Wilson had combined for an impressive 67 points in 2001. Aided by the goalkeeping efforts of Erin Pierce (Fr., Milwaukie, Or./Rex Putnam) and Jennifer Hull (So., Eugene, Or./Sheldon), the defense held strong. After allowing 2.0 goals per game in the first five games, the SPU goals-against average dropped to 0.93 in the six games since. Seattle Pacific now ranks fourth in GNAC team GAA (1.42).

Footnotes. Lienhard is the conference leader in assists (6), second in points (14) and fifth in points per game (1.27). In the seven games which SPU has either won or tied, she has three goals and six assists...Henson, who has already quadrupled her freshman goal total with four, ranks 11th in GNAC points per game (0.91)...Sanders is second in game-winning goals (2) and is now six points away from overtaking Andrea Larsen (25) as the program's all-time points leader...SPU is 5-0-1 in games in which it has scored at least two goals. When the Falcons score first, they are 3-0-2...Getting their first starts at Central were Bianca Sciotto (Fr., Reno, Nv./Galena), Laura Walker (So., Colorado Springs, Co./Palmer) and Chrissy Berke (Fr., Park Ridge, Il./Maine South). Only four players-Lienhard, Henson, Lovejoy and Ruiz-have started all 11 games.

Tickets, please. General admission tickets to all SPU regular season home games are $5, with students and senior citizens receiving tickets for $3. Group rates are available by phoning (206) 281-2085 in advance.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.