SEATTLE, Wash. – Western Washington University sophomore forward Dayana Diaz scored the game-winning goal in the 65^th minute to send the No. 7 nationally-ranked Vikings to a 2-1 victory over Central Washington in the semifinal round of the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships at Interbay Stadium.
 
The No. 1 seed Vikings improved to 17-2-1 overall with their 13^th consecutive victory and advance to the championship final of the GNAC Championships for the eighth consecutive season. WWU won its eighth GNAC regular-season title going 12-0-0 during the conference season to earn the top seed in the four-team tournament.
 
"I thought the key today for us was persistence and keeping our composure throughout the game," said WWU head coach Travis Connell. "We had stretches where we played really well and stretches where we need to improve…but we stuck with it and got some quality chances and eventually converted."
 
The Vikings struck first in the 31^st minute when senior forward Karli White took a lobbed through-ball from junior midfielder Darby Doyle down the right side of the box, made a cut-back move and fired a left-footed shot from 8-yards out for her fifth goal of the season.
 
CWU answered with the equalizer just over two minutes later when Bella Brown blasted a 16-yard shot to the lower left past a diving WWU goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx at the 32:17 mark.
 
Senior defender Lindsey Fujiwara, returning for her first game back from a knee injury, nearly put the Vikings back ahead in the 39^th minute when her right-footed shot from outside the box squarely hit the crossbar.
 
Diaz put the game away in the 65^th minute to send the Vikings to the 2-1 victory. Freshman defender Makenzie Burks took a perfect throw to lead freshman forward Estera Levinte down the left flank all the way to the end line, before sending a low cross back across the box to a streaking Diaz to buried her shot form 6-yards out. The game-winning goal game at the 64:52 mark, as the WWU defense shut down the Wildcats the remaining 25 minutes of the game.
 
"We have some playmakers, and they stuck with it, and the second goal had a quality setup and Dayana did a great job with the finish," added Connell.
 
WWU, the GNAC regular-season conference champion, will play Seattle Pacific in Saturday's championship at 1 pm at Interbay Stadium. SPU beat Western Oregon 4-1 in the evening semifinal match, setting up a familiar conference tournament final. WWU and SPU have met four prior times in the GNAC title game, with each team winning a pair of titles in those games. Saturday's championships final stream live via GNAC.tv.

#7 Western Washington 2, Central Washington 1
Date: Nov. 14, 2019
Field: Interbay Stadium   Site: Seattle, WA
Attendance: 285 

Goals by Period            1  2    Tot
---------------------------------------
Central Washington.......  1  0  -  1
Western Washington.......  1  1  -  2

SCORING SUMMARY:
1.    30:22    WWU    White (Doyle)
2.    32:17    CWU    Brown (Keenan)
3.    64:52    WWU    Diaz (Levinte, Burks)

Shots: WWU 23, CWU 5
Shots on Goal: WWU 6, CWU 3
Saves: WWU 2 (Dierickx – 2), CWU 4 (Thomson - 4)
Corners: WWU 5, CWU 0
Fouls: CWU 11, WWU 7
Kits: WWU – White/Navy; CWU - Black

  The Vikings have played in all eight GNAC Women's Soccer Championships since the debut of the event in 2012…and also advanced to the tournament final in all eight seasons. WWU is now 12-1-2 all-time in the GNAC Championships and will be going after its fifth tournament title (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017).
  The Vikings have now won back-to-back regular-season titles and raised the conference trophy for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. WWU won five consecutive titles from 2012-16 and again in 2018 to add to the 2008 league championship. The Vikings have also won four of the seven conference tournament titles.
  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 seven of the last eight Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles, going 92-5-5  in league play during this stretch (since 2012), and has won three of the last four GNAC Championships titles (2005, 2016, 2017). Head coach Travis Connell is in 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.