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On the road again. Well into the second half of the women’s soccer season, Seattle Pacific University finds itself in some unaccustomed surroundings the next couple weeks. The Falcons (3-1-0/10-2-0) must fight to regain the top spot in both the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Far West Region of NCAA Division II, and do so with the next four games on the road. First comes a GNAC contest at Western Washington (3-1-0/8-3-0) Tuesday night (Oct. 3). Saturday (Oct. 7), SPU visits Grand Canyon (0-8-1) before finishing the Phoenix portion of the trip against Dixie State (5-6-2) Monday (Oct. 9). The Falcons resume GNAC play Oct. 14 at Northwest Nazarene.

Making it interesting. The Falcons effectively lost their foothold in both the region and GNAC last week in the wake of the first regular season home loss in Coach Chuck Sekyra’s tenure. UC San Diego moved up to No. 1 in the NSCAA regional rankings while Seattle University is atop the conference, marking the first change since Seattle Pacific won its first of four straight titles in 2002. The Redhawks will host SPU in the final regular season game Oct. 28. The top four teams in the region will make next month’s NCAA playoffs.

A bump in the road. All teams will face adversity at one point or another, and it’s whether they can rebound which determines their true character. Seattle Pacific had had gotten into a groove following their first loss, reeling off seven straight wins, including a 3-0 defeat of Central Washington to begin last week. The Falcons seemed in good form against Seattle U., that is until a long shot in the dark found its way into their net. The Redhawks scored on a 30-yard goal in the 79th minute to spoil the outcome for a women’s record crowd of 1,072.

Time to start anew. The loss to the Redhawks saw a couple of notable streaks end for SPU; it’s home unbeaten string stopped at 20 (18-0-2) games and its monstrous 47-match GNAC (43-0-4) streak, dating back to Sept. 25, 2002, was snapped as well. Boding well for the Birds perhaps, is the fact that both lengthy skeins were borne out of past losses to Seattle U.

We three goals. Even though the SU contest was a fruitless night for the Falcons, they had been crowd pleasers against Central. Sarah Martinez (Jr., Bothell, Wa./Cedar Park Christian) struck twine after a 40-yard romp to goal with a releasing ball from Kayla Stiegemeier (Fr., Rathdrum, Id./Lakeland). Shannon Oakes (So., Boise, Id./Boise) had the game-opener and Carolyn Nason (Sr., Lafayette, Co./Broomfield-Metro State) nodded in the final goal off a Tricia Loomis (Jr., Des Moines, Wa./Mount Rainier) corner kick. Martinez leads the team with seven goals and 18 total points.

Making a defensive stand. Sekyra shuffled the lineup a bit over the week, hopefully allowing some injuries to heal. Just a week after an unexpected comeback from a potentially season-ending injury, Jeanne Webster (Jr., Bothell, Wa./Bothell) made two starts on defense, alongside Nason, Katie Taylor (So., Vancouver, Wa./Columbia River) and Jessica Gerstmann (Jr., Puyallup, Wa./Cascade Christian). Webster took the majority of the team’s long free kicks. Claire Grubbs (So., Sterling, Va./Potomac Falls) moved into a defensive midfield role. Keeper Katie Ruggles (Sr., Eugene, Or./South Eugene) notched a shutout against the Wildcats, her GNAC-leading seventh of the season.

Young and athletic. Sekyra called his squad his most athletic in four years at season’s outset and it’s no surprise that the skipper has elected to sub early and often all season long. Janae Godoy (Fr., Yakima, Wa./West Valley) effectively yielded to Grubbs in a starting capacity, but played plenty of minutes in both matches. Alex Kirk (Fr., Edmonds, Wa./Edmonds-Woodway) started up front Saturday and made her presence known, nearly scoring 25 seconds into the Seattle U. match. A testimony to the team’s depth is the fact that 15 players have started at least once and 16 have appeared in at least nine games.

Throw-ins. Seattle Pacific has not lost back-to-back games since the end of its inaugural season in 2001 and the last winless streak of any consequence was an 0-2-1 stretch to begin 2002...Steigemeier forced SU keeper Kaitlyn Jackson into a diving save in the 61st minute. Jackson pushed the freshman’s shot around the left post. Prior to the Seattle U., game, Stiegemeier had three goals and an assist in her last four games...Meredith Teague (So, Redmond, Wa./Bellevue Christian) ripped a shot just wide of the left post directly after Mickey Pelland’s goal for the Redhawks...Teague is third in the conference in assists (5)…Martinez leads the GNAC in goals with seven and also game-winning goals with four. She is No. 2 in points and points per game with 18 (1.64pg)…Steigemeier in a four-way tie for sixth (11)…Kara Hamby (Jr., Spokane, Wa./Mead) sat out the CWU match with a sore groin, but resumed her starting role Saturday…Oakes ranks at the top of the GNAC in shots with 45…Ruggles is second in goals-against (.71)…Team-wise, the Falcons rank second in shots (18.17), third in goals (2.42PG), and second in goals-allowed (.67PG). They are tied with Western for second in shutouts (6)...Oakes, Teague, Gerstmann, Ruggles and Nason are the only players to start all 12 games...Although SPU has outscored opponents 16-2 in the first half, the edge is only 9-6 after halftime...The Falcons have not allowed more than one goal to a GNAC opponent in the last 47 games.

Coaching Staff. Chuck Sekyra was voted coach of the year for the second consecutive time in the GNAC after taking the Falcons to a league title, NCAA playoff berth and a 19-1-2 record in his second 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 men¹s coach from 1998-99. Sekyra was a starter on the Œ86 squad which became the first in Division II history to win back-to-back national 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 third year on the staff after previously coaching at San Francisco (his alma mater), Wyoming, Fresno State and Kansas. Chalise Baysa, Oregon¹s all-time scoring leader, is in her second season on the staff. She now plays for the W-League Seattle Sounders.

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.

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.