BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University junior forward Zoe Milburn scored four goals to tie the Great Northwest Athletic Conference single-game record helping lead the No. 17 nationally-ranked Vikings to an 8-0 victory over Montana State Billings on Saturday afternoon in conference play at Harrington Field.

 

The Vikings won their third consecutive match to improve to 7-2-0 overall and remained unbeaten at 3-0-0 in GNAC play. WWU is now undefeated over its last 14 conference games (13-0-1) dating back to the beginning of last season. MSUB fell to 3-4-2 overall and 2-2-0 in GNAC games.

 

Western scored a season-high eight goals, nearly matching the 11 goals scored this season entering the game, while recording its seventh shutout victory of the season. In nine games this season, WWU has allowed only three goals. The Vikings out-shot the Yellowjackets 28-6 and held a 15-2 advantage in shots on goal.

 

Milburn, a junior forward out of Tahoma High School in Maple Valley, scored a pair of goals in each half to record the first four-goal game by a Viking during the GNAC era. It marked the eighth time a Viking has recorded at least a hat trick during the GNAC era (since 2001) and the first since Dayana Diaz had three goals last season at Saint Martin's.

 

Milburn is now the second player in conference history to record a four-goal game, joining Northwest Nazarene's Rikki Myers who initially set the record earlier this season on Sept. 14 vs. Cal State East Bay. Milburn is the first player to score four goals in a conference game in the history of the GNAC.

 

"That's pretty cool…I didn't know that until now," said Milburn after the match in regards to her GNAC record. "Everything came together today - clicking with my teammates and making runs and then executing at the end."

 

After scoring twice in the first half, Milburn reached the rare three-goal mark in the 73^rd minute, and then struck again less than two minutes later in the 75^th minute for the record-breaking goal.

W⚽️ | Scenes from the @WWU_WSoccer 8-0 #VIKtory over Montana State Billings on Saturday, with Zoe Milburn tying the #GNACWSOC single-game record with 4️⃣ goals. 

📸 Christian Serwold pic.twitter.com/wMCwUUxYHK
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) October 5, 2019
 

Milburn's second and third goals were part of an offensive-minded second-half for the Vikings that resulted in six goals and 19 shots. WWU scored four of those goals over a five minute span between the 73^rd and 78^th minutes. Freshman forward Estera Levinte (Bothell, WA) added a pair of early second-half goals, and junior forward Jenna Killman (Olympia, WA/New Mexico) and senior defender Peyton Chick (Renton, WA/Kentridge) also scored goals for the Vikings.

 

"I thought we played really physical throughout the whole match. It's something we have been working on and keeping that mentality. It is hard with two matches in a week, but we channeled some great energy today and were relentless," said WWU head coach Travis Connell. "I have to give the players a lot of credit. They inspired each other throughout the game. We stayed in the moment and played at a high level for all 90 minutes."

 

The Vikings struck first with an early goal for the third consecutive game, when Milburn scored in the seventh minute. Killman set up the goal, making a move at the top of the 18-yard box, and fired a shot on goal with a diving save by MSUB goalkeeper Erinn Harder. Milburn found the rebound off the save and drove it inside the left post for her first goal of the season.

 

WWU had a chance to play add-on in the 22^nd minute when Milburn broke behind the Billings defense, but had her shot from the top of the box square-up the crossbar.

 

Millburn made good on her brace less than three minutes later when she took a cross from freshman defender Makenzie Burks (Tacoma, WA/Stadium) and made a sliding shot to the upper right of the goal at the 24:16 mark.

 

The Vikings extended its lead with a pair of early second-half goals, both by freshman forward Estera Levinte. Levinte scored her first career goal less than two minutes into the second half, knocking home a loose ball off a rebounded shot from 7-yards out at the 46:14 mark. Seven minutes later, Levinte took a through ball from the 45-yardline by senior midfielder Jordyn Bartelson (Puyallup, WA), and beat the keeper one-on-one with a clinical finish to the near post.

 

Chick and Killman each finished with a goal and an assist for the three-point performance, with senior forward Liv Larson (Arlington, WA) and junior midfielder Grace Eversaul (Vancouver, WA/Skyview) also recording assists. For Larson, it was her 24^th career assist to move into a tie for 5^thplace in WWU history with Emily Webster (2014-17).

 

Junior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx (Kirkland, WA/Inglemoor/Colorado State) and redshirt freshmanClaire Henninger (Sequim, WA) both made one save to combine on shutout for the second consecutive game, giving the Vikings seven shutouts in nine games this season.

 

MSUB goalkeepers Erinn Harder (68 minutes) and Abby Hamilton (22 minutes) each made four saves for the Yellow jackets.

 

The Vikings (7-2-0, 3-0-0 GNAC) return to the road next week traveling to play Saint Martin's in Lacey on Thursday (1 pm) and Western Oregon in Monmouth on Saturday (1 pm). Both matches will stream live via GNAC.tv with live statistical updates. 

 

Zoe Milburn recorded the eighth hat trick by a WWU player during the GNAC era (since 2001) and the first four-goal game by a Viking since joining the NCAA Division II level in 1998. This marks the third consecutive season and fourth in the last give that WWU has had a player record a hat trick, joining Dayana Diaz last season at Saint Martin's and a pair of 3-goal games by Gabriela Pelogi in 2017. Here is a list of WWU's three (or more) goal games over the last 22 season:

 

»      Christine Avakian (11/3/00 at Humboldt State)

»      Katie Weber (9/14/06 vs. Grand Canyon)

»      Lucy Miller (10/11/08 vs. Northwest Nazarene)

»      Catherine Miles (10/26/13 vs. Northwest Nazarene)

»      Elise Aylward (9/26/15 vs. Simon Fraser)

»      Gabriela Pelogi (9/2/17 at Holy Names, 9/21/17 vs. Central Washington)

»      Dayana Diaz (9/27/18 at Saint Martin's)

»      Zoe Milburn (10/5/19 vs. Montana State Billings)

 

WWU's eight goals are the second-most by the program during the GNAC era (since 2001), trailing only a 9-0 performance against Central Washington on Nov. 5, 2005, which tied the single-game team record for goals in a conference game. Today marks the most goals scored by a WWU team since scoring seven twice during the 2017 season.

 

WWU improved to 23-3-2 all-time against MSUB while extending its winning streak vs. the Yellowjackets to 15 consecutive games with a 16-game unbeaten streak. The Vikings are now 10-1-1 all-time record vs. MSUB in games played in Bellingham, including 5-0 record at Harrington Field. During the 16-game unbeaten streak (since 2011), Vikings have allowed only three MBUB goals.

 

WWU travels down I-5 to face Saint Martin's on Thursday in Lacey and Western Oregon on Saturday in Monmouth. Both matches feature a 1 pm kickoff and can be followed live at GNAC.tv.

#17 Western Washington 8, Montana State Billings 0

Date: Oct. 5, 2019

Field: Harrington Field  Site: Bellingham, WA

Attendance: 217

 

Goals by Period               1  2    Tot

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

Montana State Billings......  0  0  -  0

Western Washington..........  2  6  -  8

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.   6:15  WWU  Milburn (Killman)

2.  24:16  WWU  Milburn (Burks)

3.  46:14  WWU  Levinte (Larson)

4.  53:00  WWU  Levinte (Bartelson)

5.  72:52  WWU  Milburn (Tinsley)

6.  74:09  WWU  Milburn (Chick)

7.  76:46  WWU  Killman

8.  77:26  WWU  Chick (Eversaul)

 

Shots: WWU 28, MSUB 6

Shots on Goal: WWU 15, MSUB 2

Saves: WWU 2 (Dierickx – 1, Henninger - 1), MSUB 8 (Harder – 4, Hamilton - 4)

Corners: WWU 6, MSUB 1

Fouls: WWU 18, MSUB 8

Kits: WWU – Navy Blue; MSUB – White/Navy

 

Since debuting at Harrington Field in 2014, the Vikings are 52-2-1 (.955), including a perfect 9-0-0 record last season and off to a 4-0-0 start this season. The Vikings have a current 14-match home winning streak.

 

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

 

 

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 80-5-5 (.917) 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.