PORTLAND, Ore. – Western Washington University junior forward
Ryan Schaefer scored his fifth goal of the season, finding the back of the net for the game-winner in the 62
nd minute to lead the Vikings to a 1-0 road shutout victory over Concordia Saturday night at Tuominen Yard in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.
The victory sealed a second-place finish in the GNAC for the Vikings, ending the regular season on a five-game winning streak to improve to 11-6-1 overall and 7-4-1 in conference play. WWU's late-season surge will give the NCAA men's soccer selection committee something to think about when the six-team regional field is announced Monday at 3 pm via NCAA.com. The Vikings impressive finish included a 2-1 victory over No. 1 nationally-ranked Simon Fraser on Thursday in Bellingham, which was previously unbeaten at 16-0-0 heading into the game.
"I am really proud of how the guys competed tonight and how they finished the regular season," said WWU head coach
Greg Brisbon. "I told them after the match that this was one of, if not the best season in program history. We played fantastic tonight, making adjustments on the fly, solving problems. We got a great goal and had three or four additional chances. Just really proud of how they competed tonight."
Concordia had its four-game winning streak snapped to end the season at 7-9-1 overall and 5-7-0 in conference play to finish 4
th in the GNAC.
Schaefer (Burien, WA/Kennedy Catholic/Univ. of Denver) broke the 0-0 tie at the 61:22 mark, collecting a loose ball in the box and connected on a shot to the lower right past the Concordia goalkeeper.
"Ryan (Schaeffer) played really well in all facets of his game tonight, not just scoring the goal, but was great in all aspects," commented Brisbon on his junior forward.
Western limited Concordia to 7 shots in the game, with 3 on target, all saved by redshirt freshman goalkeeper
Brandon Wolter (Vancouver, WA/Union). Wolter's three saves gave the Vikings their seventh shutout victory of the season.
The five-game winning streak is the longest by the program since recording a 6-game winning streak near the end of the 2016 season, leading to the first NCAA Championships appearance in program history.
"The guys did a phenomenal job of bouncing back and learning throughout the season," said Brisbon. "It shows a lot about the character and integrity of the players, and those are the guys we want in this program. We'll see how things go around the West Region this weekend, but we feel good about the season regardless of how things end up."
UP NEXT
The Vikings (11-6-1, 7-4-1 GNAC) have completed the regular season, and will now wait to see if they will sneak into the top six teams that will make up the NCAA Division II West Regional field…the selection show for the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championships will air on NCAA.com at 3 pm on Monday afternoon.
FOLLOW THE VIKINGS
Fans can follow WWU men's soccer online at
WWUVikings.com/MSoc, and via social media on
Twitter (@SoccerWWU),
Instagram (@wwu_msoccer) and
Facebook (@WWUsoccermens).
FINAL GNAC STANDINGS
| MEN'S SOCCER |
CONF |
PTS |
OVERALL |
PCT |
HOME |
AWAY |
NEUTRAL |
STREAK |
| Simon Fraser* |
11-1-0 |
33 |
17-1-0 |
.944 |
6-0-0 |
10-1-0 |
1-0-0 |
Won 1 |
| Western Washington |
7-4-1 |
22 |
11-6-1 |
.639 |
6-2-0 |
5-4-1 |
0-0-0 |
Won 5 |
| Saint Martin's |
7-5-0 |
21 |
9-9-0 |
.500 |
4-3-0 |
5-4-0 |
0-2-0 |
Won 3 |
| Concordia |
5-7-0 |
15 |
7-9-1 |
.441 |
4-3-0 |
2-6-1 |
1-0-0 |
Lost 1 |
| Montana State Billings |
4-7-1 |
13 |
7-10-2 |
.421 |
2-4-2 |
4-6-0 |
1-0-0 |
Lost 3 |
| Seattle Pacific |
4-8-0 |
12 |
8-11-0 |
.421 |
5-4-0 |
3-7-0 |
0-0-0 |
Lost 5 |
| Northwest Nazarene |
3-9-0 |
9 |
3-14-1 |
.194 |
1-7-0 |
2-7-0 |
0-0-1 |
Lost 9 |
| * Clinched GNAC championship |
