PORTLAND, Ore. – The No. 19 nationally-ranked and GNAC champion Western Washington University men's soccer team closed out the 2019 regular season with a 4-0 road victory over Concordia on Saturday evening at Tuominen Yard.

 

The Vikings scored a pair of goals in each half to finish the regular season 13-4-1 overall and topped the conference table with a 10-1-1 record. The 10 conference victories are a program record and 13 wins are tied for 4^th-most. WWU will advance to the NCAA Division II Championships for the second time in program history and will find out if they will travel or host for the opening round of games next week on Monday's selection show at 3:30 pm.

 

WWU recorded its eighth shutout victory of the season behind six saves from freshman goalkeeper Brandon Locke, who notched his seventh shutout of the season. Senior forward Christian Rotter made his 70^th career start, the most in program history, and celebrated the milestone with a goal and an assist. Junior midfielder Georg Cholewa added a pair of assist in the victory.

 

"I am really happy with how the team responded tonight after playing a tough match with Simon Fraser…they were in good spirits, had lots of energy and were really focused," said WWU head coach Greg Brisbon. "They did a great job of thinking about our task at hand next week with the NCAA Tournament, while also keeping focus on the task at hand with the goal of finishing out the regular season on a high note."

 

WWU got off to a quick start with junior Alex Whiting scoring his second goal of the season in the 7^thminute. Cholewa made space and fired a low cross from the left side of the box and Whiting finished it with an easy tap-in from 5-yards out.

 

The Vikings made it 2-0 midway through the first half at the 26:36 mark when Rotter scored his second goal of the season. Cholewa had the initial shot that blocked, where Rotter finished off the carom from 12-yards out.

 

Western added two more second-half goals to put the game out of reach finishing the regular season in fashion with the 4-0 win. Redshirt freshman midfielder Alessandro Tomasi scored in the 68^thminute off a through ball by sophomore midfielder Dakota Stamnes. Tomasi used some fancy footwork to elude the CU goalkeeper and buried his shot to the near post.

 

With six seconds remaining on the clock, senior forward Taylor Allen punched home his first goal of the season finding a loose ball after a saved shot by Rotter. 

 

"I thought it was a really good team effort tonight with lots of contributors," added Brisbon. "Brandon Locke did a lot of little things to keep us in the game, and did those things well between the pipes."

 

WWU out-shot Concordia 14-11 in the game, but both sides had six shots on goal. The Vikings held a 5-1 advantage in corner kicks.

 

Concordia ends the season with a 7-10-0 overall record and 4-8-0 mark in the GNAC.

 

Senior forward Christian Rotter appeared in his 71^st career game to break into the top 10 (tied for 10^th) in program history…his 70 career starts are the most by a position player in WWU men's soccer history breaking the previous record of 69 by defender Thomas Kauffman (2007-10)…Georg Cholewanow has 17 career assists to rank 4^th in program history and 45 points (14 goals, 17 assists) rank 13^th…Rotter is now 14^th with 42 career points (13 goals, 16 assists) and 5^th with 16 assists…he leads the GNAC with 9 assists, tied for 2^nd-most in WWU single-season history…Brandon Locke recorded his 7^th shutout (all in GNAC play), tied for 2^nd-most in single-season WWU history (record is 9).

 

WWU will find out its opponent and where they will play in the 40-team field for the NCAA II Men's Soccer Championships on Monday at 3:30 pm on NCAA.com.

 

#19 Western Washington 4, Concordia 0

Date: November 16, 2019

Field: Tuominen Yard    Site: Portland, OR

Attendance: 150   Weather: Clear, 50-degrees, Calm Wind

 

Goals by period            1  2    Tot

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

Western Washington.......  2  2  -  4

Concordia................  0  0  -  0

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.    06:30   WWU   Whiting (Cholewa)

2.    26:36   WWU   Rotter (Cholewa)

3.    67:18   WWU   Tomasi (Stamnes)

4.    89:54   WWU   Allen (Rotter)

 

Shots: WWU 14, CU 11

Shots on Goal: WWU 6, CU 6

Saves: WWU 6 (Locke – 6), CU 2 (Symmes – 2)

Corners: WWU 5, CU 1

Fouls: WWU 14, CU 11

                   

Here is a look at the final 2019 GNAC standings, with WWU finishing on top of the table to receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA II Championships:

 

                   

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). 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 men's soccer program is in its 40^th season at the varsity level with head coach Greg Brisbon leading the program in his seventh season as the head coach. The program has recorded an overall record at or above the .500 mark in six of the last seven seasons, including a 11-6-1 mark overall in 2018 and a 7-4-1 mark in the GNAC to finish second in the conference. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. WWU beat 19^th-ranked Dixie State in the first round of the NCAA Championships 3-2 in overtime on a golden goal header. Overall the program has produced 50 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 27 First Team All-GNAC players and 3 GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001.