Opponent and Series Notes

Seattle Pacific leads Humboldt State 6-1-0 in the series following a 2-0 win at Interbay Oct. 2. Jessica Henson (Sr., Spokane, Wa./University) headed in a cross from Lovejoy in the 18th minute, and Lovejoy from an Everson corner kick three minutes later. The Lumberjacks’ Lacey Lewis leads the GNAC in goals (11) and points (22), but was held without a shot in the first meeting. HSU has been idle since a loss at Western Oregon Oct. 9.

A great part of the well-rounded performance of the soccer team can be attributed to the play of forward Michelle Sanders.

Forest for the trees. Unbeaten in its last 32 regular season matches and continuing to feed an eight-match win-streak, the top-ranked Seattle Pacific University women’s soccer team heads to northern California this week for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference match near the thick of the Redwood Forest. Following two more road victories, the Falcons (6-0-1/14-0-1) continue their quest for a third straight conference crown at Humboldt State (3-4-0/8-5-1) Thursday afternoon (Oct. 21). SPU finishes its stretch of six consecutive road games Oct. 28 at Western Oregon. The final three regular season games will be played at Interbay Stadium.

Well-oiled machine. The Falcons out-scored last week’s opponents in Nampa and Bellingham a combined 10-1 and remained solid at No. 1 for the third week in a row in the NCAA Division II poll conducted by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Seattle Pacific, No. 22 in the preseason poll, burst into the nation’s top 10 on Sept. 5 and has not looked back. SPU boosted its regular season unbeaten streak to 32 games (29-0-3) last week on the road as Coach Chuck Sekyra flew his squad to Nampa to dispose of Northwest Nazarene 8-1, and two days later, won 2-0 at Bellingham. Sekyra termed the latter one of the most impressive displays during his tenure.

The battle for the GNAC crown. The race is tight for the GNAC title and the two-time defending champ Falcons have their work cut out for them if they are to sit atop the standings once again. Ninth-ranked Seattle University trails by the narrowest of margins, and the two teams meet again Nov. 6 at Interbay. The first NCAA regional rankings were released last week and SPU held the top spot, followed by UC San Diego, Seattle U., Cal State Dominguez Hills and Sonoma State. The top four teams in that final poll will receive invitations to the NCAA tournament in November. Last year, the Falcons became the first GNAC team in history to make the playoffs.

Truly a team effort. Despite continuing its winning ways on the road, Sekyra’s squad was dealt another substantial blow at Nampa when starting forward and scoring leader Sarah Martinez (Fr., Bothell, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) went down in the first half with a sprained knee. Although Martinez is sidelined indefinitely, she is expected to return before the postseason. Days earlier, the Falcons lost starting midfielder Heidi Jacobson (Jr., Kirkland, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) to a rib injury. Consequently, Sekyra moved Megan Lienhard (Jr., Everett, Wa./Cascade) from midfield to forward, where she had played last spring, and inserted Kara Hamby (Fr., Spokane, Wa./Mead) into a starting midfield role at Western. Just before being injured, Martinez weaved her way through the NNU defense for her eighth goal of the year.

Added punch. A great part of the well-rounded performance can be attributed to the play of forward Michelle Sanders (Sr., Centralia, Wa.), who stepped up her game last week as the injuries thinned the ranks. Leading the team with nine goals, Sanders notched a pair in the wins, most noteworthy a 25-yard blast to the upper right corner in the second half of the Western match. Sanders has scored in the last three games and was named GNAC player of the week for her efforts. Her closest competition may have been teammate Shannon Lovejoy (Jr., Seattle, Wa./Seattle Prep), who scored her second career hat trick at Northwest Nazarene. Also in the running for the award was Sarah Melby (Sr., Mukilteo, Wa./Kamiak), who hit the game-winner at Western, nodding home a Michelle Everson (Jr., Tacoma, Wa./Stadium) free kick. It was the second goal of the season for Melby, with both coming against the Vikings.

The back five. All-America goaltender Jennifer Hull (Sr., Eugene, Or./Sheldon) made four saves last week and remains the NCAA leader in goals-against average at .029. She saved the first penalty taken by NNU. The back line of Everson, Katie Lim (Sr., Hillsboro, Or.), Mollie Taylor (So., Westlake Village, Ca./Oaks Christian) and Carolyn Nason (So., Lafayette, Co./Broomfield) held opponents to just 13 shots (compared to 47 by SPU). So far, only four goals have been allowed in 15 games, and the Falcons are the national leader in scoring defense (0.24) and tied for No. 2 in shutout percentage, with 11 in 15 games.

Footnotes. Allison Teague (Jr., Redmond, Wa./Bellevue Christian) delivered a pair of goals at Nampa...Jacobson could return to the lineup this week after missing three games...A string of six straight shutouts and 607 scoreless minutes was ended by a Crusaders penalty kick. The school record of 649 minutes was set last year...Seattle University, Chico State and Western Washington are the only other teams to find the SPU net...Seattle Pacific’s 27-game GNAC unbeaten streak dates back to Sept. 25, 2002 (27-0-2) and will be on the line at Humboldt... Statistically, SPU is first in the conference in GAA and second in shutouts. Sanders and Martinez (15) are tied for fourth in GNAC points with Lovejoy seventh. Martinez is tied for third in goals (7) and Sanders (6) is fifth. Lovejoy (6) is tied for first in assists while Everson and Henson are tied for fifth with four each. Teamwise, the Falcons rate second in goals per game (2.33)...During Sekyra’s watch, SPU has won 29 of 34 games, posting 25 shutouts...The Falcons have out-scored opponents 20-3 in the first half this season and have not allowed a second-half goal (10-0)...Lovejoy’s hat trick was the fifth in team history and tied the single-game goals record, which is also shared by Sanders and Lienhard...The eight goals at NNU was second only to the nine against the Crusaders in 2002.

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.