Box Score Oct. 8, 2016 Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - The Western Washington University women's soccer team scored twice in the opening 10 minutes of the game as part of a four-goal first half en route to a commanding 5-0 victory over visiting Northwest Nazarene in GNAC play on a rainy Saturday evening at Harrington Field.
Fifth-ranked WWU (11-0-1, 6-0-0 GNAC) captured its 11th straight win and 22nd consecutive victory at Harrington Field to tie the GNAC record for consecutive home wins, set by Seattle Pacific in 2004. The Vikings also collected their ninth shutout of the season and second in a row. Northwest Nazarene fell to 3-9-0 overall and 1-6-0 in GNAC action.
Junior defender Sierra Shugarts (Federal Way, WA/Decatur) scored the first WWU goal for the third match in a row, her third goal of the season, with a header from a corner kick opportunity less than one minute into the game. Junior midfielder Emily Webster (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) was able to head a loose ball following the corner kick toward Shugarts, who scored from five yards away.
The lead quickly built to 2-0 in the 7th minute when senior midfielder Caitlyn Jobanek (Springfield, OR/Thurston) took a throw-in from sophomore defender Taylor Hallquist (Vancouver, WA/Columbia River) and fired a left-footed strike from the top-right corner of the 18-yard box to the near post for her team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Senior forward Elise Aylward (Renton, WA/Lindbergh) made it 3-0 in the 24th minute with her fourth goal of the season, tapping in a shot from three yards away off a series of quick passes from freshman forward Liv Larson (Arlington, WA) and sophomore forward Gabriela Pelogi (Federal Way, WA).
Pelogi added a goal of her own in the 30th minute, taking a through-ball pass from freshman midfielder Jordyn Bartelson (Puyallup, WA) in the right side of the 18-yard box before cutting back toward the middle of the box and scoring to the far post from seven yards away. Pelogi's goal was her fourth of the year.
Freshman defender Lindsey Fujiwara (Sammamish WA/Skyline) upped the lead to 5-0 in the 55th minute, scoring her first career goal from the top-left corner of the 18-yard box with a low shot that was nearly redirected as it traveled through a crowded box but rolled into the lower-right corner of the net.
"We just had an appetite tonight," said 14th-year head coach Travis Connell. "We were feeding off of the early goals and we were excited about playing. You can see that in the way they played. When you're confident and excited and eager to get the next play, want the ball and create for your teammates then good things happen, and we saw a lot of good things tonight."
The Vikings dominated possession and offensive chances, holding a 31-3 edge in shots (15-1 advantage in shots on goal) and took 9 corner kicks while the Crusaders generated 3 corner kick chances.
NNU goalkeeper Daniele Ortiz made 9 saves while junior goalkeeper Ashley Homer (Puyallup, WA/College of Saint Rose) made 1 save for the Vikings.
WWU faces a stretch of three road games in a row starting next week with a match at Western Oregon on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 3 pm.
Game Notes: WWU is now undefeated in its last 36 GNAC regular-season matches (32-0-4)...home winning streak reaches 22 consecutive matches (12-0-0 in 2015, 10-0-0 in 2016)...have scored in 25 consecutive GNAC matches (regular and postseason matches)...unbeaten in 27 consecutive regular-season matches (25-0-2).
