Nov. 5, 2003

Box Score

SEATTLE, Wash. - A much-anticipated season ended on a very different note as Western Washington University fell to Seattle Pacific University, 3-0, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer match Wednesday at Interbay Stadium.

The defending conference champion Vikings, finished 8-8-2 overall and 2-3-1 league, losing three of their last four games.

Seattle Pacific, which improved to 8-8-2 overall and 3-2-1 league, needs a win Friday over No.21-ranked UC Davis to run its NCAA-record string of consecutive winning seasons to 33. The Falcons snapped a two-game home losing streak with the win over Western.

"They got up early with a goal in the first three minutes, and they got a goal in the last six minutes of the half, very vulnerable times mentally to give up goals, so we were pretty down," said Western coach Travis Connell. "But we had a lot of good chances, we may have even out-shot them in the first half, but we couldn't finish.

"Then we got a penalty kick in the second half and we missed that, which was another big swing emotionally, and then we gave up the final goal in the last five minutes."

Jeremy Yerkes scored twice for Seattle Pacific, the first on a penalty kick just 3:35 into the game after being tripped on a run into the top of the box.

Andy Willis made it 2-0 in the 39th minute as he ran onto a through ball from Ross Vaillancourt on the right wing, then angled into the box and found the net from 14 yards out. Yerkes got his eighth goal of the season with less than two minutes remaining, tapping in a pass by Willis from six yards.

Western's best opportunity of the first half went for naught when Falcon goalkeeper James Ward, diving to his left, saved a penalty kick by Jeff Lane (Jr., Yakima/West Valley) in the 43rd minute. Kris Pope (So., Everett/Jackson) was taken down on the preceding play.

The Vikings' David Schlesinger (Jr., Missoula, MT/Big Sky) had tested Ward from 15 yards in the 20th minute, with the Seattle Pacific keeper able to push the ball over the bar. Each team had 10 shots, and the Falcons had a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. Ward was credited with five saves.

Western, picked as the GNAC preseason favorite, looked ready to make the program's first NCAA Division II West Regional appearance. But the Vikings got off to a 0-5-1 start with their top two offensive players suffering season-ending injuries. Despite those setbacks, Western came back to win seven straight and go unbeaten in eight consecutive games.

"I was really impressed by the way we came back," Connell said. "When you have gone six games without a win to start your season and then you're able to go on a string like we did, that's an amazing feat psychologically ... But then the injuries eventually caught up with us against these good teams".

It was the final game for four Western seniors - midfielder David Hileman (Pasco), midfielder Eric Blatt (Spokane/Ferris), defender Justyn Scholze (Federal Way/Decatur) and defender Joel Saulter (Edmonds/Blanchet).

Western Washington vs. Seattle PacificDate: 11/5/03      Attendance: 250Goals by Period     1   2     TotalWestern Washington  0   0   -  0Seattle Pacific     2   1   -  3SCORING SUMMARY:SPU - Yerkes (penalty kick), 3:35SPU - Andy Willis (Vaillancourt), 38:36SPU - Yerkes (Willis), 88:04Shots: Western 10, Seattle Pacific 10Corner kicks: Western 1, Seattle Pacific 4Saves: Western 0 (Ben Dragavon 0), Seattle Pacific 5 (James Ward 5)