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WHAT'S HAPPENING…the No. 13-ranked WWU men's soccer team (2-0-0) heads into the second week of the regular season with a return trip to California…earned wins in California at Sonoma State and Chico State to begin the season last week and will face Point Loma (Thursday, 4:30 pm) in San Diego, Calif., and Azusa Pacific (Saturday, 2:30 pm) in Azusa, Calif., this week.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW…Both games this week will feature live stats and webcasts…each game will have a pay-per-view webcast ($8.95 PLNU, $7.95 APU)…links can be accessed through WWUVikings.com/Live…all GNAC games will feature live video and stats at GNAC.tv.
 
LAST WEEK…WWU rallied for a 4-3 (OT) victory in the season opener at Sonoma State…trailed 3-1 early in second half before netting goals in 65th and 75th minutes to tie…scored golden goal on a penalty kick from Georg Cholewa during the 95th minute in overtime…defeated Chico State 1-0 as Cholewa assisted Stephen Jinneman on a goal in the 32nd minute.
   
SOLID START...WWU is 2-0-0 to begin the season for the first time since 2007…one of strongest starts to a season in recent history…began the year 2-0-1 during 2015 with a tie to start the year followed by two victories…1-0-1 to start 2016 season…Vikings were 3-0-0 to start 2000 season…WWU had strong start to the GNAC schedule in 2017, beginning conference play 5-0-1.
 
NATIONALLY RANKED...WWU is ranked No. 13 nationally in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Division II poll…also ranked No. 2 in first United Soccer Coaches West Region poll…one of two GNAC schools in both polls along with No. 4 nationally-ranked and No. 1 regionally-ranked Simon Fraser…Vikings are among top 25 in national poll for first time in NCAA Division II history.
 
NOT OVER UNTIL OVERTIME...WWU's overtime game at Sonoma State followed a 2017 season during which WWU played into overtime in 9 of 17 games…Vikings have been to overtime in 11 of last 21 games dating back to the 2016 season…WWU went 1-3-5 in overtime during 2017…five ties set the school record for ties in a season…Vikings lost by a deficit of greater than one goal just once last season and were not shut out through the first nine games of the 2017 campaign.
 
DOWN BUT NOT OUT...Vikings won 4-3 in overtime at Sonoma State 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…Senior co-captain Stephen Jinneman scored the equalizing goal to tie the game 3-3 at Sonoma State before netting the game-winning goal at Chico State…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 YOU NEED TO KNOW…

• Back to California – The Vikings open the 2018 season with four consecutive games in the state of California.
• Balanced Attack – Four players scored for WWU in the season-opening win at Sonoma State.
• Among the Ranked – In United Soccer Coaches polls WWU is No. 13 nationally, No. 2 in the West Region.
• Not in the Net – WWU was 2nd in GNAC with 5 shutouts during 2017, has 1 shutout through 2 games in 2018.
• Captains – Stephen Jinneman, Garrett Strawn and Jeremiah Lee are team co-captains for 2018.
• Welcome to Western – Transfer Ryan Schaefer totaled 3 points (1 goal, 1 assist) in his WWU debut.
• Golden Goal – Georg Cholewa scored the golden goal at Sonoma State, has 1 goal and 2 assists in 2018.
• Ranked Opponents – Two teams on the WWU schedule have been and/or are currently ranked in the United Soccer Coaches national poll in Point Loma (receiving votes, formerly #23) and No. 4 Simon Fraser.  
• Coach Brisbon – WWU head coach Greg Brisbon is in his sixth season leading the program (18th overall with WWU soccer)…directed Vikings to 43-33-16 record as head coach (.554) 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 between WWU its opponents:

• Point Loma → Vikings are 1-0 all-time against Point Loma…WWU won only previous meeting 3-1 in 1995…Sea Lions are receiving votes in United Soccer Coaches national poll and No. 6 in West Region.
• Azusa Pacific → WWU and Azusa Pacific are meeting for the first time in men's soccer.

WHAT RETURNS...the Vikings return 5 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…will be 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.
 
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING…among GNAC leaders last season, WWU ranked 2nd in shots per game (14.76) and also 2nd in goals allowed per game (1.41) as well as goals-against average (1.29)…totaled 5 shutouts to rank 2nd in the conference…have ranked 2nd in each of the aforementioned defensive statistics for past two seasons.
 
TALENTED TRANSFERS…in addition to an incoming class of prep standouts, the Vikings welcome three transfers for 2018…junior Ryan Schaefer joins 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 has transferred to WWU from INP-ENSIACET in France where he started 25 of 26 games over three seasons…junior Blake McMillian joins WWU from Tacoma CC where he a was an NWAC All-Region honoree.
 
HOME OPENER…following four road contests to start the season the Vikings will be at home to host Hawaii Hilo at 7 pm on Tuesday, Sept. 11…also welcome Hawaii Pacific on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7 pm during the homestand…Vikings have eight home games (six GNAC, two non-conference).
 
ON THE ROAD…the Vikings play their first four games away from home and open the GNAC slate on the road…after playing two of first three conferences games at home will be on the road for four straight GNAC contests before playing four consecutive home games during the latter half of the conference schedule.
 
SENIOR SIX…WWU graduated six seniors from the 2017 season…among the 2017 seniors was leading goal scorer and two-time United Soccer Coaches Third Team All-Region selection Anthony Dean, who accounted for 25 of 70 points for the Vikings last year with 11 goals and 3 assists…also gone is four-time All-GNAC honoree Luke Olney, who finished career 10th among WWU career leaders in games played (71) and tied for 10th in career assists (12)…2017 First Team All-GNAC goalkeeper Tyler Visten is gone as well, concluding his career 2nd-best in WWU history with a 1.24 goals-against average and 15 shutouts (3rd-most in WWU history).
 
ALL-ACADEMIC…the Vikings set a program record with 11 student-athletes named to the GNAC All-Academic Team during 2017…senior Garrett Strawn was also selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District team last year as a junior.
 
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 43-33-16 record as head coach (.554)…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… Vikings 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 was tied with 3-0-3 start to conference schedule in 2013 for longest unbeaten streak to start conference play by WWU since at least 2000…5-0-1 start was part of a larger nine-game unbeaten streak…Vikings finished season 3-4-2 at home and 3-2-3 on the road…WWU went to overtime in 9 of 17 games during the season, with 7 of those contests reaching double overtime (1-3-5 overtime record)…Five ties set the school record for ties in a season…WWU was named the GNAC/Red Lion Team of the Week following the opening week of conference play on Sept. 25.