BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Freshman forward Estera Levinte scored a goal and added a pair of assists to lead No. 10 nationally-ranked Western Washington University to a 3-0 victory over rival Seattle Pacific Thursday evening at Harrington Field.

 

The Vikings 11^th shutout victory of the season clinched a spot in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships that will be held Nov. 14-16 at Interbay Stadium in Seattle. With their eighth consecutive victory, WWU is now 12-2-0 overall and remains perfect at 8-0-0 in conference play. In eight conference matches, the Vikings have out-scored opponents 35-1.

 

"We look forward to these rivalry games, there is a little different electricity when these two teams play," said head coach Travis Connell. "Estera (Levinte) was lights-out tonight, but it was really a team effort that got us to that point where they were all pulling in the same direction and working as a unit together to break the other team down."

 

The Vikings took the lead with two late first-half goals, scored four minutes apart, taking a 2-0 advantage at halftime.

 

Junior forward Jenna Killman scored the first goal early in the 38^th minute, firing a left-footed shot into the upper right quadrant. The go-ahead goal was set up by Levinte, who beat her defender, and threaded a pass to Killman streaking though the 18-yard box. Junior defender Talia Daigle was also credited with an assist on the play as her throw-in setup the eventual game-winning goal.

 

Four minutes later, Levinte again played the role of playmaker chasing down a pass down the right side of the field, made a move on her SPU defender towards the end line, and placed a sliding pass right to the waiting foot of junior midfielder Darby Doyle. Doyle one-timed her shot to the lower left for her first goal of the season.

 

Levinte continued to make her mark in the second half, cushioning the lead to 3-0 adding a goal to her two-assist night in the 56^th minute. Levinte beat her defender down the left side and used her left foot for a strong finish from eight-yards out that caromed off SPU goalkeeper Riley Travis into the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season.

 

Junior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx recorded three saves for her seventh shutout of the season and 15^th of her career (9^th in program history).

 

WWU out-shot the Falcons 16-10, including an 11-17 advantage in the second half, and held a 6-3 edge in shots on goal.

 

The Vikings extended their unbeaten streak against the Falcons to 18 consecutive games, going 15-0-3 during this stretch dating back to the 2013 season. WWU won its 11^th consecutive game against SPU, a winning streak that started Oct. 1, 2015. Thursday's win also moved WWU ahead of SPU in the all-time series, now leading 19-18-6. The Vikings and Falcons will meet in the regular-season finale for both teams on November 7 at Interbay Stadium in Seattle.

 

WWU hasn't allowed a goal in its last five games against SPU, combining to win those five games 11-0. The last time the Falcons scored against WWU was the championship game of the GNAC Tournament on Nov. 5, 2016 (a 3-1 WWU win in Bellingham). Since the SPU goal in the 67th minute of that game, the Vikings have held SPU scoreless for 473-minutes, 31-seconds in the series.

 

The Vikings (12-2-0, 8-0-0 GNAC) return to the road to face Central Washington (6-5-1, 4-2-1) on Saturday at 2 pm in Ellensburg.

 

WWU head coach Travis Connell recorded his 250^th head coaching victory in his 17 seasons leading the WWU women's program. Connell owns an all-time 250-71-28 record (.756) at the helm of the women's program, and adds in 125 more victories in his 14 seasons also coaching the WWU men's program (375 total WWU wins).

 

#10 Western Washington 3, Seattle Pacific 0

Date: Oct. 24, 2019

Field: Harrington Field  Site: Bellingham, WA

Attendance: 207

 

Goals by Period               1  2    Tot

-----------------------------------------

Seattle Pacific.............  0  0  -  0

Western Washington..........  2  1  -  3

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.    37:08   WWU   Killman (Levinte, Daigle)

2.    41:06   WWU   Doyle (Levinte)

3.    55:35   WWU   Levinte

 

Shots: WWU 16, SPU 10

Shots on Goal: WWU 6, SPU 3

Saves: WWU 3 (Dierickx – 3), SPU 3 (Travis - 3)

Corners: WWU 5, SPU 4

Fouls: WWU 8, SPU 8

Kits: WWU – Navy; SPU - White

 

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings through games played on Thursday:

 

 

Since debuting at Harrington Field in 2014, the Vikings are 55-2-1 (.957), including a perfect 9-0-0 record last season and 7-0-0 this season. The Vikings have a current 17-match home winning streak.

 

WWU is now unbeaten over its last 19 regular-season GNAC games going back to last season, with a 18-0-1 mark during this stretch.

 

WWU has won 72 of its last 82 games dating back to the start of the 2016 national championship season, going 72-7-3 during this stretch. The program has won six of the last seven GNAC regular-season titles, three of the last four GNAC Tournaments and advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last seven seasons. During the seven-year stretch of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, WWU has reached the West Regional Championship match six times and advanced to the NCAA II Final Four three times (2013, 2015, 2016). Western has a current streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons the 8th-longest active streak in NCAA II.

 

Fans can follow WWU women's soccer online at WWUVikings.com/WSoc, and via social media on Twitter (@WWU_WSoccer), Instagram (@wwu_wsoccer) and Facebook (@WWUsoccerwomens). All home matches feature a live webcast, as well as most road matches, with links on how to follow the games available at WWUVikings.com/Live.

 

The Western Washington University women's soccer program has risen to the top of the Division II ranks, with a string of seven consecutive appearances in the NCAA Championships. WWU has advanced to the NCAA II Final Four in three of the last six seasons and played for the West Region championship in six of the last seven seasons. The Vikings won the NCAA Division II National Championship in 2016 with an undefeated 24-0-1 record, beating three-time defending national champion Grand Valley State 3-2 in the title game in Kansas City, Missouri. Including the national championship run, the Vikings put together a 39-game winning streak (4th-longest in NCAA II history) and a 40-game unbeaten streak. The program has claimed six of the last seven Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles, going 88-5-5 (.923) in league play during this stretch, and has won three of the last four GNAC Championships titles (2005, 2016, 2017). Head coach Travis Connell enters his 17^th season leading the program in 2019, and has led the Vikings to nine trips to the NCAA Championships and 15 consecutive winning seasons.