SEATTLE, Wash. – The No. 7 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's soccer team capped a perfect run through the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season with a 2-0 shutout victory over Seattle Pacific Thursday evening at Interbay Stadium.

WWU won its 12^th consecutive games, improving to 16-2-0 overall and finished the regular season with a perfect 12-0-0 mark in GNAC play. Already having clinched the regular-season title last weekend, WWU put the finishing touches on just the third perfect season in conference play in the 19-year history of the GNAC. WWU was also 12-0-0 during the 2016 national championship season and SPU went 14-0-0 in 2007.

"It is incredibly impressive what this team achieved this season going up a tough conference with several well-coaches teams," said WWU head coach Travis Connell. "All the credit goes to the players with how they battled and believed in themselves. To go 12-0 in league play is a great accomplishment and I know the team is excited to start playing in the postseason."

The Vikings struck first in the 24^th minute when sophomore forward Dayana Diaz scored an early go-ahead goal for the second consecutive game. Diaz's second goal of the season was set up by a long shot by senior defender Peyton Chick that nearly tucked below the crossbar, but Diaz found the loose ball and scored from close quarters.

Leading 1-0 at the half, WWU added an insurance goal in the 61^st minute when senior forward Liv Larson connected on a low strike from 17-yards out that snuck through the box and trickled past SPU goalkeeper Riley Travis for her sixth goal of the season and 19^th of her career.

Junior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx was credited with three saves in goal to record her eighth shutout of the season.

WWU out-shot SPU 16-11 while holding a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal.

"SPU is a good team and challenged us in many ways tonight," added Connell. "There were several ebbs-and-flows in this game, and sometimes those are the toughest to stay engaged in. But the team did a great job keeping focused and converted a couple of chances into goals."

The Vikings (16-2-0, 12-0-0 GNAC) are off this weekend as the rest of the GNAC finishes off the conference regular season. WWU will be the No. 1 seed in the GNAC Women's Soccer Championships that opens play on Thursday, November 14 in Seattle at Interbay Stadium, and will likely play in the 4 pm match against the No. 4 seed.

"The schedule to end the season has been good for us, getting a dress rehearsal of how next Thursday will look down here in Seattle," said Connell. "We will be prepared and ready to go next weekend for the conference tournament."

Liv Larson scored her 19^th career goal and now has 63 career points (25 assists) to rank 14^th in program history…Peyton Chick appeared in her 85^th career game, tied for 7^th-most in WWU history…Natalie Dierickx recorded her eighth shutout of the season and 16^th of her career to tie for 8^th-most in WWU history.

#7 Western Washington 2, Seattle Pacific 0

Date: Nov. 7, 2019

Field: Interbay Stadium   Site: Seattle, WA

Attendance: 311    Weather: Low 50s, Cloudy

Goals by Period            1  2    Tot

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Western Washington.......  1  1  -  2

Seattle Pacific..........  0  0  -  0

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.    23:28    WWU    Diaz (Chick)

2.    60:39    WWU    Larson

Shots: WWU 16, SPU 11

Shots on Goal: WWU 6, SPU 3

Saves: WWU 3 (Dierickx – 3), SPU 4 (Travis - 4)

Corners: WWU 4, SPU 1

Fouls: SPU 8, WWU 6

Kits: WWU – Black; SPU – White

The Vikings swept the regular-season series vs. the Falcons, recording a pair of shutouts, also winning 3-0 on Oct. 24 at Harrington Field in Bellingham. WWU has won the last 12 games vs. SPU and is unbeaten over the last 19 contests (16-0-3) dating back to 2013. The recent dominance in the series now gives WWU a 20-18-6 lead in the all-time series.

WWU hasn't allowed a goal in its last six games against SPU, combining to win those contests by a combined score of 13-0. 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 563-minutes, 31-seconds in the series.

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings through games played on Thursday. WWU recorded a perfect 36-point score in the regular season to claim the eighth regular-season GNAC title in program history.

WWU is the back-to-back GNAC regular-season champions and now have eight regular-season GNAC titles. Also

won GNAC regular-season titles in 2008 and five consecutive seasons from 2012-16. Over the last eight seasons (since 2012), the Vikings are 92-5-5 in GNAC play.

WWU is now unbeaten over its last 23 regular-season GNAC games going back to last season, with a 22-0-1 mark during this stretch. The last loss in regular-season conference play was Sept. 15, 2018 at Concordia (1-0).

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.