BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The No. 18 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's soccer team takes back to the road beginning a string of four consecutive away matches to complete the 2021 regular season.

 

The Vikings carry a 11-2-2 overall record into games this week at Northwest Nazarene in Nampa, Idaho (Thursday, 6 pm MT) and Central Washington in Ellensburg (Saturday, 12 pm). WWU is currently 2nd in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with an 8-2-0 mark (24 points).

 

WWU has four remaining games in the regular season before the postseason begins, with the top four teams in the GNAC standings advancing to play in the conference championships that will be held November 11-13 at Harrington Field in Bellingham.

 

The Vikings are coming off a 1-1 week, dropping a 3-0 decision at home against No. 4 Seattle Pacific, and rebounding with a 3-0 victory over Montana State Billings. WWU is 8-1-1 at home this season and 3-1-1 on the road. Following matches at NNU and CWU, the Vikings conclude the regular season with games on the road at Western Oregon (11/4) and Saint Martin's (11/6).

 

Senior forward Jenna Killman leads the Vikings with six goals to rank 3rd in the GNAC and junior midfielder Tera Ziemer is tied for 4th with 13 points tallying five goals and three assists. Senior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx is tied for the league lead with eight shutouts and 2nd with a 0.56 goals against average. As a team the Vikings rank 2nd in the conference in both scoring (1.80 goals per game) and goals against average (0.52).

 

WWU's 19-match regular-season schedule and all results, recaps and box scores can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/21_WS.

 

 

 

The Vikings debuted at No. 2 in the first NCAA Division II West Regional rankings, trailing only GNAC foe Seattle Pacific. Northwest Nazarene – the Vikings Thursday opponent – is listed No. 6 in the regional rankings. Six teams will advance to the NCAA II Regional Championships with the annual Selection Show scheduled for Monday, November 15 at 3 pm. Records listed below are through games played on October 24, with Sonoma State dropping a game Monday to Chico State 1-0.

 

 

WWU has built a 87-16-9 record away from Bellingham over the last 10 seasons (since 2012), which includes a 64-12-6 road record and a 23-4-3 mark in neutral-site games. The Vikings are 3-1-1 on the road this season and will play nine of 19 games away from Bellingham this season.

 

Here is a look at the series history between the Vikings and the two upcoming opponents:

 

• Northwest Nazarene: WWU defeated NNU 1-0 in the first meeting this season October 2 at Harrington Field…the Vikings lead the all-time series 37-1-1 with a current 18-game winning streak and 31-match unbeaten stretch (30-0-1) dating back to the 2003 season…owns a 17-1-0 record in games played in Nampa.
• Central Washington: The Vikings defeated CWU 6-0 Sept. 30 at Harrington Field…WWU leads the all-time series vs. the Wildcats 46-10-8, which includes a six-game winning streak and 20-match unbeaten stretch (18-0-2)…WWU is 19-5-4 all-time in games played in Ellensburg.

 

The October 16 win over Simon Fraser marked the 400th career victory for WWU head coach Travis Connell, who now has 276 wins in 19 seasons leading the women's program and 125 more wins when he led the Western men's program for 14 seasons. Connell joins an exclusive list of WWU head coaches to earn 400 wins while leading the Vikings, which includes Lynda Goodrich, Diane Flick-Williams, Carmen Dolfo and Brad Jackson.

 

Since Harrington Field debuted on the south edge of the WWU campus in 2014, the Vikings are 68-3-4 (.933) playing in front of the home crowd. WWU had a 32-game unbeaten streak (29-0-3) at Harrington Field snapped Thursday vs. Seattle Pacific (previous home loss - Oct. 28, 2017 vs. Concordia). Including the men's program, WWU's soccer teams have a combined record of 101-23-13 at Harrington Field (.785 winning percentage) since the on-campus facility debuted.

 

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings heading into this week's action, with the Vikings in 2nd place in the table with 24 points at 8-2-0 in conference play.

 

 

Highlighted by four-time award winners Grace Eversaul and Natalie Dierickx, the WWU women's soccer team led the conference with 22 student-athletes earning Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Academic honors. Eversaul and Dierickx became the first four-time GNAC All-Academic players in WWU Women's Soccer history. The 22 selections are the most in program history, with 10 selections from the 2018 and 2019 seasons being the previous record. In addition to the pair of four-time award winners, WWU had five student-athletes earn the GNAC academic honor for the second time – Claire Henninger, Jenna Killman, Estera Levinte, Karina Provo and Katie Watt.

 

Western is listed No. 18 in the current United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II Poll, moving down six spots after rising to No. 12 the previous week (from No. 23). WWU has been ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation this season and spent four consecutive weeks in the top 10. WWU has now been listed in 72 consecutive national polls dating back to the middle of the 2014 season, with 29 weeks as a top-5 team. WWU is also listed No. 2 in the first West Regional rankings of the season.

 

WWU has won 98 of its last 116 games dating back to the start of the 2016 national championship season, going 98-11-7 (.875) during this stretch. The program has won seven of the last eight GNAC regular-season titles (including 2019), four of the last five GNAC Tournaments and advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last eight seasons. During the eight-year stretch of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, WWU has reached the West Regional Championship match seven times and advanced to the NCAA II national semifinals four times (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019). Western has a current streak of 17 consecutive winning seasons the 7th-longest active streak in NCAA II.

 

All WWU home games (and most road games) will stream live online with the direct links available at WWUVikings.com/Live. Games at Harrington Field will feature an HD webcast on WWU's YouTube channel. For easy access, each WWU Women's Soccer game will feature a URL redirect that will send you right to the current game, so bookmark the following links, which will direct you to watch games this weekend vs. NNU and CWU.

 

• Webcast – wwuvikings.com/WS_Watch
• Live Stats – wwuvikings.com/WS_Stats

 

The Vikings have made eight consecutive trips to the NCAA Division II Championships and 10 overall appearances in the NCAA postseason. WWU played for the national title in 2019 and are 2-2 all-time in national semifinal contests. The program owns an all-time 22-8-1 record in NCAA Championships play (5-1 in 2019), winning at least one game in 8 of the 10 trips to the NCAA postseason. WWU was crowned national champions after in 2016 with a 24-0-1 record, capped by a 3-2 victory over Grand Valley State in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

The Vikings are the two-time defending GNAC regular-season champions (2018 & 2019) and have raised the conference trophy seven times 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.

 

Through the first 15 games, WWU has allowed eight goals in 1,395 minutes for a .552 goals against average to rank 2nd in the GNAC and 22nd in NCAA II. The Vikings have out-scored opponents 27-8 overall and 21-6 in GNAC games. WWU is also tied for 9th in the nation with nine shutouts.

 

The Vikings calling card in recent years has been a strong defense. Over the last 10 seasons the program has combined for a .458 goals against average, including a NCAA-leading mark of 0.341 in 2019. Since 2012, the Vikings have posted a shutout in 132 of the last 207 games (63.8%) while going 174-20-13 (.872). Senior All-American goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx has recorded 27 career shutouts (3rd in WWU history) and owns an all-time program record of 54 wins (54-8-4).

 

Travis Connell is in his 19th season leading the women's program as head coach and 26th overall as a coach at WWU. Owns a 276-75-32 (.762) record leading the women's program to rank as the 5th-winningest active coach amongst NCAA Division II head coaches. Overall he is 10th among all-time winningest NCAA Division II coaches, with a minimum of 10 years as a head coach at a DII school. Connell recorded his 250^th win leading the women's program on October 24, 2019 vs. Seattle Pacific, and including 125 wins as the head coach of the men's soccer program at WWU, Connell has amassed 400 career NCAA head coaching victories. He is assisted by former Viking standouts Claire Morgan and Jamie Arthurs, and Johann Lahud-Zahner.

 

The 2021 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championships will be held at Harrington Field in Bellingham, with games played November 11 (4 & 7 pm) and 13 (1 pm). The top four teams in the GNAC table at the end of the regular season will qualify for the postseason tournament, with the winner receiving the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. This marks the first time WWU will be officially hosting the three-game tournament in the nine-year history of the championships, but Harrington Field did serve as the site of the championship game in 2016 after the planned title match was fogged out in Burnaby, BC. WWU is the defending GNAC Tournament champions winning the title in 2019, and is 13-1-2 all-time in the conference championship event. The Vikings have won five of the eight tournament titles (2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019) and advanced to the tournament final all eight seasons.