BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The No. 19 nationally-ranked Western Washington University men's soccer team inched closer to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship with a 2-0 victory over Northwest Nazarene on Thursday night at Harrington Field.

 

The Vikings scored a pair of early first-half goals less than two minutes apart, both by senior forwardRyan Schaefer, to extend their winning streak to seven consecutive games and unbeaten streak to 10 consecutive games.

 

WWU improved to 11-3-1 overall and remained undefeated in conference play at 8-0-1 in the GNAC. With three regular-season games remaining, Western leads the conference table with 25 points, needing one point to clinch the third conference title in program history and receive league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.

 

"I am pleased that we won and didn't give up any goals on the defensive end," said WWU head coachGreg Brisbon. "It is super hard to do what we have done and all the credit goes to the hard work the team has put in. I am very happy for the team. They have done tremendous and they keep getting better as a group."

 

The Vikings took early control of the game scoring two quick goals in the 15^th and 16^th minutes.Schaefer scored the first of his successive goals corralling a loose ball after a corner kick with his chest, and then clinically finishing off the left post at the 14:15 mark.

 

Less than a minute-and-a-half later, Schaefer struck again at the 15:41 mark to put the Vikings up 2-0. Junior midfielder Georg Cholewa took a free kick from 25-yards out with his shot mishandled by NNU goalkeeper Sawyer Price. Senior forward Christian Rotter redirected the ball to Schaefer, who one-timed it home past an NNU defender. Rotter was awarded an assist on the play, his GNAC-leading eighth of the season.

 

"We have a very dangerous front five and any of those guys can create chances and score," added Brisbon. "We need to clean up a few things, but overall it was good performance and this team is going to be tough to deal with."

 

WWU dominated the run of play holding an 18-6 advantage in shots, with an 11-2 edge in shots on goal.

 

Freshman goalkeeper Brandon Locke improved to 8-0-1 in his nine starts between the pipes in his collegiate career, recording a pair of saves for his fifth shutout victory.

 

NNU dropped to 6-9-0 overall and 2-7-0 in GNAC play with the loss. Price made nine saves in goal for the Nighthawks, while Brandon Parsio had both shots on goal for NNU.

 

WWU (11-3-1, 8-0-1 GNAC) hosts Montana State Billings on Saturday with kickoff at 7 pm at Harrington Field. Advanced tickets can be purchased online at WWUVikings.com/MS_Tickets.

 

Here are some notes on WWU's current 7-game winning streak and 10-game undefeated streak:

 

»     Winning – Current 7-game winning streak dating back to 2-0 victory over Concordia on Oct.12.

»     Longest Since – This is the longest winning streak by a WWU team since an 8-game winning streak in 2007.

 

»     Undefeated – Current 10-game undefeated streak (8-0-1) dating back to 2-1 win over Point Loma on Sept. 28.

»     Longest Since – Is the first undefeated streak by a WWU team to reach double-digits since a program-record 13-game winning streak in 1989.

 

WWU has won its last seven games and is 9-0-1 during the current 19-game unbeaten streak…Ryan Schaefer recorded his second brace of the season and leads the team with 9 goals…Schaefer's 9 goals are the most by a Viking since Anthony Dean had 11 in 2017 and are 13^th-most in WWU single-season history…Schaefer now also has 5 game-winning goals to lead the conference…Christian Rotter recorded his eighth assist of the season to extend his conference lead in that statistical category…his 8 assists are tied for 3^rd-most in WWU single-season history…WWU has recorded back-to-back shutouts and has a current string of 198:10 consecutive scoreless minutes…Western is 1-0 in November this season and 6-2-1 in November games over the last four seasons.

 

WWU swept the season series vs. Northwest Nazarene, out-scoring the Nighthawks 5-0 (won 3-0 at NNU on 10/19). WWU now leads the all-time series 19-6-3 with a current 7-game undefeated streak (5-0-2) and a four-game winning streak. Has not conceded a goal to NNU during the seven-game undefeated streak for a string of 670 consecutive scoreless minutes vs NNU.

 

#19 Western Washington 2, Northwest Nazarene 0

Date: November 7, 2019

Field: Harrington Field    Site: Bellingham, WA

Attendance: 126    Weather: Low 40s, Cold and Clear

 

Goals by period           1  2   Tot

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

Northwest Nazarene......  0  0 -  0

Western Washington......  2  0 -  2

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.    14:15   WWU   Schaefer

2.    15:41   WWU   Schaefer (Rotter)

 

Shots: WWU 18, NNU 6

Shots on Goal: WWU 11, NNU 2

Saves: WWU 2 (Locke – 2), NNU 9 (Price - 9)

Corners: WWU 5, NNU 3

Fouls: WWU 15, NNU 10

Kits: WWU – Navy; NNU - White

                  

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings through all games played on Thursday. WWU is in first place with 25 points with an undefeated 8-0-1 record in GNAC play. Updated standings, results and the upcoming schedule are always available at GNACsports.com:

 

 

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.