Men's Soccer | 10/17/2018 4:45:00 PM

ABOUT THE VIKINGS…the WWU men's soccer team returns to Harrington Field to begin a four-game homestand, beginning with one match this week hosting Saint Martin's on Thursday at 4 pm…WWU had its three-game unbeaten streak snapped dropping both road contests last week at Seattle Pacific and No. 1 Simon Fraser.
 
WHAT REMAINS…the Vikings have five games remaining in the 2018 season, with four to be played at home at Harrington Field…after the four consecutive home games, WWU finishes the season Nov. 3 at Concordia in Portland.
 
MATCHED WIN TOTAL…with five games remaining in the season, the Vikings have already matched their win total from last season, going 6-6-1 overall…went 6-6-5 last season (.500), setting a program record with 5 ties…have recorded at least 6 wins in six of the last seven seasons.
 

2018 Record
Overall Record	6-6-1
Home	2-2-0
Away	4-4-1
Neutral	0-0-0
GNAC Record	2-4-1
Ranked Opponents	0-1-0
By Kit
White	4-1-0
Navy	2-2-0
Light Blue	0-0-0
Black	0-3-1

LATELY…after opening the season 4-2-0 in the first six games, the Vikings are 2-4-1 over the last seven games.
 
DECISIVE VICTORY…the Vikings recorded a 5-0 road victory at Northwest Nazarene on Oct. 6…matched the most goals scored in a GNAC contest since also scoring 5 goals in a 5-1 win at Concordia on Nov. 5, 2016 in Portland…biggest shutout margin since a 7-0 win over NNU on Oct. 30, 2010 in Bellingham (at Whatcom CC).
 
HOW TO FOLLOW…all GNAC matches will stream live and feature live stats at GNAC.tv, with home games also streamed live on YouTube…in addition to being available online, all conference matches are available via the GNAC channel on Roku, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV…live links can be accessed through WWUVikings.com/Live.
 
EVERYDAY JINNEMAN…senior defender Stephan Jinneman has appeared in 65 career games, making 52 starts, in his Western career…missed only two possible games during his WWU career…the former walk-on has played over 5,000 minutes in his career, ranking in the top 10 in program history amongst players during the GNAC era (since 2001).
 
MAKING A NAME…Georg Cholewa is tied for 4^th in the GNAC with 7 goals and 5^th with 18 points…recorded at least a goal or an assist in 8 of WWU's 13 games this season.

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 HOME STRETCH…WWU will play four of its final five matches of the 2018 regular season at Harrington Field…hosts Saint Martin's (Thursday), Northwest Nazarene (10/25), Seattle Pacific (10/27) and Simon Fraser (11/1) during the four-game homestand…Vikings have a .500 or better record at home during five of the last six seasons (since 2012), combining to go 30-18-9.
 
GNAC HONORS...WWU men's soccer has had a conference weekly award winner three times this season…Brandon Wolter (Oct. 1-7) and Jeremiah Lee (Sept. 10-16) have been named GNAC Defensive Player of the Week…Georg Cholewa was named the GNAC Offensive Player of the Week for Sept. 3-9 after recording a brace in a win at Point Loma.
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW…

• Balanced Attack – 9 players have scored a goal for WWU and 10 have recorded a point through this season.
• Second Half Vikings – WWU has scored 13 of its 20 goals in the second half or overtime.
• Not in the Net – WWU has 4 shutouts to rank 2^nd in the GNAC behind top-ranked Simon Fraser (9).
• Iron Man – Junior Jeremiah Lee leads the team playing in 1153 minutes (out of 1204 possible minutes).
• Goals Against Average – Vikings are 2^nd in the GNAC with a 1.51 goals against average.
• Captains – Stephen Jinneman, Garrett Strawn and Jeremiah Lee are team co-captains for 2018.
• Road Wins – Vikings are 4-4-1 on the road and have already equaled their road wins total from 2017 (3-2-3).
• Young Viks – 7 of WWU's 17 players to see action this season are in the first or second year in the program.
• Coach Brisbon – WWU head coach Greg Brisbon is in his sixth season leading the program (18th overall with WWU soccer)…directed Vikings to 47-39-17 record as head coach (.539) and first NCAA II tournament appearance in 2016…2016 GNAC co-Coach of the Year.

SERIES HISTORY…here is a look at the all-time series history vs. this week's opponent: 

• Saint Martin's: Dropped a 3-1 decision in the GNAC opener earlier this season in Lacey…WWU leads the all-time series 15-7-1…Vikings are 10-1-0 all-time vs. the Saints in Bellingham…SMU has won 5 of the last 7 meetings.

SOLID START...WWU opened the season 3-0-0 and went 4-2-0 through the non-conference schedule (most regular season non-conference wins since five victories in 2010)…tied for best winning streak start to a season since Vikings were 3-0-0 to start 2000 season.
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS…
4
Shutouts this season to rank 2nd in the GNAC, one away from last season's total.
6
WWU's win total this season to match the 6 wins from last season (6-6-5).
13
Goals during the second half or in overtime for the Vikings (20 total goals during the season).
13
Freshman Gus Diehl has started all 13 games at midfield for the Vikings.
18
Points for Georg Cholewa to rank 5th among Great Northwest Athletic Conference leaders.
47
Career wins for head coach Greg Brisbon in his sixth year leading WWU.
65
Career games played (52 starts) by senior defender Stephen Jinneman
69
Corner kicks for WWU (5.31/game) to rank 2^nd in the conference behind Simon Fraser (7.46).
 
CLOSE CONTESTS...WWU has lost by a deficit of greater than one goal just seven times since the beginning of the 2016 season and five times since the beginning of the 2017 season…6 of 13 games during 2018 have been decided by a difference of one goal.
 
THE RANKINGS...WWU is not ranked nationally or regionally in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Polls but had debuted in the national rankings at No. 13 in the first regular season poll and was ranked No. 24 nationally the following week…highest regional ranking during season was No. 2 after first week of regular season…the No. 13 national ranking was the first NCAA Division II national ranking for WWU in program history.
 
CORNER KICK CHANCES...WWU is 2^nd in the GNAC averaging 5.31 corner kicks per game (66 total)…season-high 11 corner kicks vs. Hawai'i Hilo on Sept. 11…Vikings have ranked in the top two in the GNAC in corners per game during each of the past two years since start of the 2016 season.
 
DISTRIBUTION…9 players have accounted for WWU's 20 goals for the season with 6 players also accounting for the team's 14 assists…four players have scored multiple goals…Georg Cholewa has 7 goals to lead the team, while Drew Farnsworth, Stephen Jinneman and Ryan Schaefer have 2 apiece…Cholewa leads the team with 4 assists and 18 total points.
 
THE STANDINGS…WWU is 2-4-1 in GNAC play and currently sits in a tie for 5^th place in the conference standings with 7 points.
 

MEN'S SOCCER	CONF	PTS	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
Simon Fraser	7-0-0	21	13-0-0	1.000	3-0-0	9-0-0	1-0-0	Won 13
Seattle Pacific	4-3-0	12	8-6-0	.571	5-1-0	3-5-0	0-0-0	Won 2
Saint Martin's	4-3-0	12	6-7-0	.462	3-3-0	3-2-0	0-2-0	Won 3
Northwest Nazarene	3-3-0	9	3-8-1	.292	1-4-0	2-4-0	0-0-1	Lost 3
Western Washington	2-4-1	7	6-6-1	.500	2-2-0	4-4-1	0-0-0	Lost 2
Montana State Billings	2-4-1	7	5-7-2	.429	2-3-2	2-4-0	1-0-0	Lost 1
Concordia	1-6-0	3	3-8-1	.292	2-2-0	0-6-1	1-0-0	Lost 6

DOWN BUT NOT OUT...Vikings won 4-3 in overtime at Sonoma State in the season opener after trailing 3-1 when Seawolves scored a goal to take a 3-1 lead in the 51st minute…marked the third time since start of 2017 WWU has overcome a two-goal deficit to tie and second time to win…came from down 2-0 to defeat Seattle Pacific 3-2 in overtime on Sept. 23, 2017 and was also down a pair of goals before tying Colorado Christian 2-2 after two overtimes on Sept. 7, 2017.
 
IN THE CLUTCH…Stephen Jinneman has one game-tying and one game-winning goal in 2018…has 6 career goals from his defensive position with 4 of those goals either game-winning or game-tying…first career goal was a golden goal header in the 98th minute against Dixie State in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Division II Tournament to give WWU its first-ever tournament win, 3-2.
 
WHAT RETURNS...the Vikings return five players who made at least 10 or more starts last season as well as a 2017 redshirt who made 14 starts in 2016…Georg Cholewa and Stephen Jinneman were both Honorable Mention All-GNAC selections last year.
 
QUICK FACTS…WWU went 6-6-5 overall and tied for 3rd in the GNAC with a 5-4-3 record last year…15 letterwinners return overall…replacing 5 starters from last season…2018 team features six seniors, eight juniors, four sophomores and 11 freshmen.
 
PRESEASON COACHES POLL…the Vikings were picked to place 4th in the conference by the annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Coaches Poll…two-time defending champion Simon Fraser (49 points) received all seven 1st-place votes while SPU (35 points), MSU Billings (32 points) and WWU (30 points) complete the top four teams in the poll…Vikings placed in a tie for 3rd in the GNAC last year after tying for 2nd in the conference during the 2016 season.
 
TALENTED TRANSFERS…in addition to an incoming class of prep standouts, the Vikings welcome three transfers for 2018…junior Ryan Schaefer joined WWU after transferring from the University of Denver where he appeared in 29 games over two years after redshirting his first season…senior Louis Genty transferred to WWU from INP-ENSIACET in France where he started 25 of 26 games over three seasons…junior Blake McMillian joined WWU from Tacoma CC where he a was an NWAC All-Region honoree.
 
TO THE TOURNAMENT…WWU is a year removed from advancing to the first NCAA II Tournament appearance in program history…Vikings reached the NCAA II Tournament in 2016 and advanced to the second round of the tournament…defeated Dixie State 3-2 in overtime before falling 2-0 to UC San Diego in the second round.
 
COACH BRISBON…Greg Brisbon is in his sixth season as head coach of the WWU men's soccer program and 18th overall associated with WWU soccer…directed Vikings to 47-39-17 record as head coach (.539)…spent previous 12 years as Vikings assistant coach, eight as the associate head coach…coached Vikings to their first NCAA II Tournament appearance and first postseason victory in 2016 with a 10-5-4 record…named GNAC co-Coach of the Year in 2016…WWU finished the season 5-0-1 over the final 6 games, with a win and tie vs. No. 3 Simon Fraser, to secure the bid to the NCAA II Tournament…season record tied for 10th-most wins in program history.
 
2017 SEASON IN REVIEW…finished tied for 3rd in the GNAC with a 6-6-5 overall record and 5-4-3 mark in conference play…began conference schedule 5-0-1, including a four-game win streak to begin GNAC play…best winning streak start to GNAC play since 2002 and six-game unbeaten start to conference schedule…5-0-1 start was part of a larger 9-game unbeaten streak…went to overtime in 9 of 17 games, with 7 reaching double overtime (1-3-5 overtime record)…set program record with 5 ties…named the…WWU was named the GNAC/Red Lion Team of the Week following the opening week of conference play on Sept. 25.
 
TEAM ACADEMIC AWARD…the Western Washington University men's and women's soccer programs have been recognized as recipients of the 2017-18 United Soccer Coaches College Team Academic Award…WWU was one of 198 institutions across all divisions of the NCAA to have both their men's and women's soccer program recognized for achieving a team grade point average of 3.0 or higher during the 2017-18 academic school year…last season, the men's program placed a program record 11 players on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic team and finished with a team GPA of 3.08.
 
GNAC SCHEDULE…here is a look at the GNAC schedule for this week's action:
 

Thursday, October 18
Montana State Billings at Northwest Nazarene *	Nampa, ID	4:00 p.m.
Saint Martin's at Western Washington *	Bellingham, WA	4:00 p.m.
Concordia at Seattle Pacific *	Seattle, WA	7:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 20
Concordia at Northwest Nazarene *	Nampa, ID	3:00 p.m.
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific *	Seattle, WA	7:00 p.m.
Saint Martin's at Simon Fraser *	Burnaby, BC	7:00 p.m.