West coast trip at hand. With two successful home wins behind them and a growing head of steam, the No. 22-ranked Seattle Pacific University women’s soccer team plays one more contest on its home turf of Interbay before chugging down the West Coast for a pair of matches in California just after Labor Day. The Falcons (2-0-0) finish out a three-game home stand Saturday night (Sept. 4) against Chico State (1-1-0). The first road game is at Cal State L.A. (2-0-0) next Tuesday (Sept. 7). SPU plays at San Francisco State (0-2-0) Sept. 10 in the final game prior to Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

Two and counting. Historically speaking, SPU is off to its best start ever, winning the first two gams, over Cal State Dominguez Hills (1-0) and Cal Poly Pomona (4-0). Coach Chuck Sekyra and his squad have set their sights on not only returning to the NCAA Division II tournament, but pursuing a national title. Sekyra believes that the inside track to the Far West Region title lies in winning the non-conference contests early on, and a victory over Chico State would realize the first goal set by the team, to start 3-0-0. Last year, SPU became the first GNAC team to make the playoffs. It was eliminated in the first round. The defending regional champion is UC San Diego, which is the No. 3 team in the national preseason poll.

Home sweet Interbay. The win streak is still intact. The Falcons effectively downed Dominguez Hills and Cal Poly Pomona to open season, garnering their 16th and 17th consecutive victories at home, a streak that dates back to 2002. With the victory over the Toros, SPU also avenged each of its losses in 2003, including a season-ending defeat in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Defensively, Seattle Pacific owns a scoreless string of 641 minutes on its home field turf dating back to last season. All-American goaltender Jennifer Hull (Sr., Eugene, Or./Sheldon) saved six balls last week in posting her 16th career shutout versus CSDH.

Scoring left and right. It didn’t take the Falcons long to get on the scoreboard, thanks to Michelle Sanders (Sr., Centralia, Wa.). Three minutes into the afternoon opener, Sanders trapped a looping pass from defender Katie Lim (Sr., Hillsboro, Or.), turned and beat two Toro defenders on a 20-yard romp toward the visitors’ goal, then converted her own rebound. The strike was the 20th of Sanders’ career. In the win over the Broncos, it was all midfielders Megan Lienhard (Jr., Everett, Wa./Cascade) and Shannon Lovejoy (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Seattle Prep). The pair accounted for seven of SPU’s total 12 points, Lienhard scoring a pair of goals and Lovejoy garnering a goal and an assist. Sanders assisted on Lienhard’s final strike for the final margin (4-0).

Defense holds. Sekyra credited his defense for shutting down Dominguez Hills and Pomona, allowing precious little space to operate, let alone launch a scoring attack. Along with Hull, the starting back line resembled that of a year ago, with Lim, Mollie Taylor (So., Westlake Village, Ca./Oaks Christian) and Michelle Everson (Jr., Tacoma, Wa./Stadium), anchoring. Joining them was Metro State transfer Carolyn Nason (So., Lafayette, Co./Metro State), who replaced departed senior Nicole Ruiz at sweeper.

Roll call. Although his team has 21 returning players, Sekyra says there is more competition than ever for key roles. There were no true rookies getting the starting call in the first two games, although Sarah Martinez (Fr., Bothell, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) and Kara Hamby (Fr., Spokane, Wa./Mead) played plenty of minutes at forward and midfield, respectively. Martinez got the starting nod in place of an injured Heidi Jacobson (Jr., Kirkland, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) in the Cal Poly match and poked in her first collegiate goal against Pomona with Lovejoy’s assistance.

Footnotes. On the GNAC front, three others teams–Humboldt State, Northwest Nazarene and Seattle U.–are also perfect so far, each at 3-0-0...Sekyra is potentially seven deep at the halfback position, and experimented with several different combinations over the course of the two games. Sarah Melby (Sr., Mukilteo, Wa./Kamiak) and Jessica Henson (Sr., Spokane, Wa./University) were the starting fixtures and Allison Teague (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Bellevue Christian) and Leila Stalnaker (Sr., Auburn, Wa./Seattle Christian) came off the bench in midfield reserve roles. Up front, Theresa Morelli (So., Bellevue, Wa./Bellevue Christian) substituted at forward and Jean Kolb (Jr., Eugene, Or./South Eugene) at fullback.

Tickets, Please. Ticket prices for all SPU regular season home games are $5 for general admission, with students and senior citizens $3. Group and team rates are available by phoning (206) 281-2085 in advance.

SPU Coaching Staff. Chuck Sekyra was voted coach of the year in the GNAC after taking the Falcons to a league title, NCAA playoff berth and a 17-2-2 record in his first season. Seykra, an assistant at Washington for three seasons, has close ties to the Puget Sound soccer community and to Seattle Pacific in particular. He is a graduate of SPU, played on two NCAA championship teams and was assistant men’s coach from 1998-99. Sekyra was a starter on the ‘86 squad which became the first in Division II history to win back-to-back NCAA crowns. He is head coach of the Washington State girls ODP Under-16 team and a Region IV ODP staff coach. Goalkeeper coach Kevin Blokker returns for his second year on the staff after previously coaching at San Francisco (his alma mater), Wyoming, Fresno State and Kansas. Julie Cain is back for her third year. She both played and coached at Westmont. Chalise Baysa is new to the staff in 2004. She is Oregon’s all-time scoring leader and now plays for the W-League Seattle Sounders.

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.