BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The undefeated and nationally No. 10 ranked Western Washington University women's soccer team hosts a pair of GNAC matches this week at Harrington Field.
 
The 5-0-2 Vikings take a 2-0-0 conference mark into matches Thursday vs. Central Washington (1-5-0, 0-2-0 GNAC) and Saturday vs. Northwest Nazarene (3-2-1, 1-2-0 GNAC), with both matches featuring a 7 pm kickoff at Harrington Field on the south edge of the WWU campus.
 
After completing a tough non-conference schedule with a 3-0-2 mark, Western is coming off consecutive 2-1 victories featuring late game-winning goals last week vs. Simon Fraser and Western Oregon to open GNAC play.
 
Having completed one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation, the No. 8 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's soccer team opens play this week with a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference matches.
 
Junior midfielder Tera Ziemer is tied for the GNAC lead with four goals and sophomore defender Makenzie Burks is tied for second with three assists, all coming in the last three games. Senior goalkeeper Natalie Dierickx is 2nd in the conference and 37th nationally with a 0.537 goals against average.
 
WWU's 19-match regular-season schedule can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/21_WS.
 

THIS WEEK IN WWU WOMEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, September 30	Live Coverage
Central Washington  »  7:00 pm  »  Bellingham, WA  »  Harrington Field	📊 LiveStats   🎥 Webcast
Saturday, October 2	Live Coverage
Northwest Nazarene  »  7:00 pm  »  Bellingham, WA  »  Harrington Field	📊 LiveStats   🎥 Webcast

Fans are allowed to watch the games inside the venue at Harrington Field. Due to state of Washington and WWU policy, face coverings/masks are required for all fans and social distancing in the stands is encouraged. Tickets will be on sale to the general public beginning one hour prior to kickoff at the Harrington Field Box Office (General - $8, Kids/Seniors - $5) and free parking is available in the C lots on the south edge of the WWU campus.
  Western is listed No. 10 in the current United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division II Poll, the third consecutive week to be ranked in the national top-10. WWU has now been listed in 68 consecutive national polls dating back to the middle of the 2014 season, with 29 weeks as a top-5 team.
  Here is a look at the series history between the Vikings and the two upcoming opponents:

• Central Washington: WWU leads the all-time series vs. CWU 45-10-8..has a current five-game winning streak vs. the Wildcats and 19-game unbeaten streak (17-0-2)…6-0-1 record vs. CWU at Harrington Field and 21-5-4 all-time in home games.

• Northwest Nazarene: WWU is 36-1-1 all-time vs. NNU, with a current 17-game winning streak vs. the Nighthawks…30-match unbeaten streak going 29-0-1 dating back to the 2003 season…19-0-1 all-time vs. NNU in home games, including a 5-0-0 mark at Harrington Field.

Since Harrington Field debuted on the south edge of the WWU campus in 2014, the Vikings are 63-2-4 (.942) playing in front of the home crowd. WWU has a current 28-game unbeaten streak (25-0-3) at Harrington Field dating back to the end of the 2017 season (last home loss - Oct. 28, 2017 vs. Concordia). Including the men's program, WWU's soccer teams have a combined record of 94-21-13 at Harrington Field (.785 winning percentage) since the on-campus facility debuted.
  WWU Soccer will host Whatcom Rangers Night on Saturday, October 2 as the women's team hosts Northwest Nazarene and on October 28 when the men play Saint Martin's at Harrington Field. All youth players and coaches wearing their team jersey will be admitted for FREE in a event supporting community soccer.
  WWU has built a 86-15-9 record away from Bellingham over the last 10 seasons (since 2012), which includes a 63-11-6 road record and a 23-4-3 mark in neutral-site games. The Vikings will play nine of 19 games on the road in 2021 (2-0-1 so far this season).
  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:

• 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.
  Katie Watt (Defense) and Tera Ziemer (Offense) swept the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Players of the Week for games played September 13-19. Ziemer earned the offensive award after scoring the game-winning goal in the 1-0 win over Biola on Saturday and Watt received defensive honors leading the stalwart back line not allowing a shot on goal.
  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.
  WWU has won 92 of its last 108 games dating back to the start of the 2016 national championship season, going 92-9-7 (.884) 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.
  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 270-73-32 (.763) 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 wins as the head coach of the men's soccer program at WWU, Connell has amassed 395 career NCAA head coaching victories. He is assisted by former Viking standouts Claire Morgan and Jamie Arthurs, and Johann Lahud-Zahner.