BELLINGHAM, Wash. – With its ticket already punched for the postseason GNAC Championships, the No. 14 Western Washington University women's soccer team will close out the 2021 regular season this week on the road.

 

The Vikings travel to play at Western Oregon on Thursday in Monmouth (2 pm) and conclude the regular season Saturday at Saint Martin's in Lacey (2:30 pm). 

 

WWU is 12-3-2 overall and in 2nd place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with an 9-3-0 mark (27 points). In addition to its No. 14 national ranking, the Vikings are listed No. 2 in the NCAA II West Region rankings. 

 

The Vikings, Seattle Pacific and Northwest Nazarene have qualified for the GNAC Championships that will be held November 11-13 at Harrington Field in Bellingham. Simon Fraser, Western Oregon and Montana State Billings are vying for the final spot in the four-team tournament, with the winner receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA II Championships. 

 

Western went 1-1 on the road last week, dropping a tight 2-1 contest to No. 5 regionally-ranked Northwest Nazarene and rebounded with a 6-0 victory over Central Washington. 

 

Senior forward Jenna Killman continued her goal-scoring prowess with her third brace of the season in the 6-0 win at CWU. Killman is tied for the GNAC lead with eight goals, followed closely by junior midfielder Tera Ziemer with six goals. Senior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx is 2nd in the GNAC with a 0.62 goals against average and tied for 2nd with eight shutouts. 

 

 

The Vikings kept hold of the No. 2 spot in the NCAA Division II West Regional rankings, trailing only GNAC foe Seattle Pacific. Northwest Nazarene is listed No. 5 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.

 

 

WWU has locked up one of the four spots for the 2021 GNAC Women's Soccer Championships that will be held November 11-13 at Harrington Field. The Vikings have qualified for the GNAC Tournament in all nine years the event has been held since debuting in 2012 (no tournament in 2020), with WWU advancing to the title game every year. The Vikings are five-time champions in the event, winning in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019, and are 13-1-2 all-time in the championships. Tickets are currently on sale for the championships online at GNACTickets.com.

 

Senior forward Jenna Killman has scored eight goals to tie for the most in the GNAC this season. Most of her goal-scoring production has come in three games, recording a brace in three different games this season (9/30 vs. CWU, 10/23 vs. MSUB, 10/30 at CWU). Here is a look at the GNAC goal-scoring leaders heading into the final week of the 2021 regular season, with Tera Ziemer 5th with six goals and Darby Doyle tied for 8th with four:

 

 

WWU has built an 88-17-9 record away from Bellingham over the last 10 seasons (since 2012), which includes a 65-13-6 road record and a 23-4-3 mark in neutral-site games. The Vikings are 4-2-1 on the road this season and will complete the regular-season with away contests at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's this week.

 

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

 

• Western Oregon: Defeated WOU 2-1 on Sept. 25 in Bellingham…current 9-game winning streak vs. the Wolves (since 2015) and 12-game unbeaten streak (11-0-1)…dating back to the 2006 season, WWU leads the series 27-1-1…15-5-1 in road games in Monmouth with a current 4-game winning streak.
• Saint Martin's: Defeated SMU 1-0 on October 14 in Bellingham…current 18-game winning streak vs. the Saints stretching back to the 2011 season…recorded six consecutive shutouts vs. SMU…10-2-0 all-time vs. Saint Martin's in games played in Lacey.

 

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings heading into the final week of the season, with the Vikings in 2nd place in the table with 27 points at 9-3-0 in conference play.

 

 

News and notes on the 2021 WWU Women's Soccer team:

 

• The Record – 12-3-2 on the season (8-1-1 home, 4-2-1 away).
• GNAC – Second in the conference standings with a 9-3-0 record (27 points).
• Brace for Killman – Jenna Killman has recorded a trio of 2-goal games and is tied for the GNAC lead with 8 goals (T-2nd with 18 points).
• Spreading the Wealth – 13 players have combined to score the 34 goals.
• Academics – Led the conference with 22 selections to the GNAC All-Academic Team.
• Harrington Success – Owns all-time 68-3-4 all-time playing at the on-campus facility that debuted in 2014 (.933 winning pct).
• Shutouts – Recorded 10 shutouts in 17 games to tie for 12th-most in NCAA II…had 18 shutouts in 26 games in 2019 and 4 in 7 games during 2021 spring season.
• Ziemer Goals – Tera Ziemer (Texas A&M transfer) has scored 6 goals to tie for 5th in the GNAC.
• Eversaul's Goals – All-American Grace Eversaul has three goals to tie for 3rd on the team…16th in program history with 22 career goals and 20th with 52 points…has 10 career game-winning goals.
• Winner in Goal – All-American goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx has recorded 55 career wins, most in program history…27 shutouts are 3rd-most by a WWU goalkeeper and 5th-most among active NCAA II players…current active leader in NCAA II with career 0.56 goals against average.
• Dependable Doyle – Darby Doyle has appeared in 93 career games, tied for the most caps in WWU history…has scored 39 career points (14 goals, 11 assists).
• Always Dancing – Advanced to each of the last eight NCAA Division II Championships, and played in the West Region title match in six of the last seven seasons (four regional titles).
• GNAC Champions – Won both the GNAC regular-season and conference tournament titles in 2019, the 8th regular-season title and 5th tournament title in program history.
• National Champions – 2016 NCAA II National Championship with a 24-0-1 record…also national runner-up finish in 2019 (23-3-0).
• The Gaffer – Travis Connell is in his 19th season leading the WWU Women's program (26th at WWU), and owns an all-time 277-76-32 (.761) as the Western women's head coach…6th among active NCAA II head coaches with a .761 winning percentage (entering season)…owns 400 career wins including time with WWU men's soccer.
• Senior Day – The annual Senior Day was held prior to the regular-season home finale vs. Montana State Billings on October 23…WWU honored eight players that are competing in their final collegiate season: Grace Eversaul, Zoe Milburn, Natalie Dierickx, Darby Doyle, Jenna Killman, Karina Provo, Olivia Lee, Sophie Butterfield.
• Roster Breakdown – The 2021 roster features 33 players, with 26 from Washington, three from Oregon, two from California, one from Colorado and one from North Dakota.

 

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 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 103-23-13 at Harrington Field (.788 winning percentage) since the on-campus facility debuted.

 

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. 14 in the current United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II Poll, moving up four spots after from No. 18 last week. 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 73 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 99 of its last 118 games dating back to the start of the 2016 national championship season, going 99-12-7 (.869) 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 17 games, WWU has allowed 10 goals in 1,575 minutes for a .571 goals against average to rank 2nd in the GNAC in the top 30 in NCAA II. The Vikings have out-scored opponents 34-10 overall and 28-8 in GNAC games. WWU is also tied for 12th in the nation with 10 shutouts.

 

The Vikings calling card in recent years has been a strong defense. Over the last 10 seasons the program has combined for a .463 goals against average, including a NCAA-leading mark of 0.341 in 2019. Since 2012, the Vikings have posted a shutout in 133 of the last 209 games (63.6%) while going 175-21-13 (.868). Senior All-American goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx has recorded 27 career shutouts (3rd in WWU history) and owns an all-time program record of 55 wins (55-9-4).

 

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 277-76-32 (.761) 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.

 

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). 

 

The Western Washington University women's soccer program has risen to the top of the Division II ranks, with a string of eight consecutive appearances in the NCAA Championships. WWU has advanced to the NCAA II Final Four in four of the last seven seasons and played for the West Region championship in seven of the last eight seasons. The Vikings played for the 2019 national title and 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 and won four of the last five GNAC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019). Head coach Travis Connell is in his 19th season leading the program in 2021, and has led the Vikings to 10 trips to the NCAA Championships (8 straight) and 16 consecutive winning seasons. WWU finished the 2019 season with a 23-3-0 record, winning the West Regional title and played in the national championship game falling 1-0 to Grand Valley State. WWU's 179 wins during the 2010s decade were the 6^th-most out of 1,043 NCAA women's soccer programs.