BILLINGS, Mont. – The No. 7 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's soccer team scored early and scored often while cruising to a 3-0 road victory over Montana State Billings Saturday afternoon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at Yellowjacket Field.

 

WWU extended its unbeaten streak to 11 consecutive games (9-0-2) with its sixth straight win, improving to 10-1-3 overall and remained on top of the GNAC table with a 9-0-1 conference record. The Vikings closed out a string of four consecutive road games with a perfect 4-0-0 record, out-scoring opponents 10-1 during this stretch.

 

The Vikings used a trio of first-half goals to record Saturday's win at MSUB, with junior forward Estera Levinte recording her third career brace as a Viking. Levinte scored the eventual game-winner early in the 13th minute and added her team-leading fifth goal of the season (four in the last four games) with just over 10 minute remaining in the first half. Junior defender Kascia Muscutt scored her first goal as a Viking to cap the scoring with the Vikings reaching double-digits in wins for the 16th consecutive season.

 

WWU capped a 2-0-0 week with a pair of 3-0 shutouts, also defeating rival Seattle Pacific by an identical score Thursday in Seattle. The Vikings will now close out the regular season with four consecutive home games at Harrington Field beginning with a key match Thursday hosting Northwest Nazarene.

 

"I am proud of the team ending this tough stretch of road games on a strong note. Today was a good team win in Billings with contributions from a lot of players," said WWU head coach Travis Connell. "I am really happy with the result today. We still have a lot left to accomplish as a team and we get to do that with four consecutive home games at Harrington Field. It's time to get better at soccer."

 

The Vikings got off to a quick start with several early scoring opportunities and cashed in early in the 13th minute with Estera Levinte scoring her fourth goal of the season. Dayana Diaz made a strong defensive play defensive play deep on the WWU side of the field, with the deflected ball finding the foot of Morgan Manalili and then back to Diaz. Diaz made a run down the right side of the box, feeding a ball to freshman Claire Potter. The initial shot by Potter was saved by the MSUB keeper, but Levinte cleaned up the rebound in front of the goal mouth for an easy finish for her 12th career goal.

 

Kascia Muscutt scored her first goal as a Viking in the 30th minute to put the Vikings up 2-0, heading home a looping corner kick from freshman Emily Rice.

 

Levinte secured the first-half brace at the 34:25 mark sending a left-footed drive into the upper right corner of the goal. Rice initiated the scoring play on a free kick from 35 yards out. Sophie Bearden Croft had her shot near the 18-yard box blocked and Levinte intercepted the attempted clearance just inside the 18-yard box where she unleashed a left-footed shot into the top right corner.

 

"Estera is a very dangerous player…and she's had a great stretch against teams that know her the best in conference play," added Connell. "It's been impressive and a testament to her and the work of the team."

pic.twitter.com/GCTW2GQ4JB
— WWU Athletics (@WWUAthletics) October 15, 2022

Western limited MSUB to five shots in the game – all coming in the last 20 minutes of the contest – to record the ninth shutout of the season. The Vikings have not allowed a goal in seven of the last eight games and have a current scoreless streak of 292:90. Juniors Claire Henninger (58 minutes) and Abigail Trengove (32 minutes) combined on the shutout, with Trengove making a pair of saves.

 

MSUB (1-10-4, 1-7-2 GNAC) were held without a shot until the 71st minute of the game, when Jackie Sharpe and Taylor Gertsch recorded back-to-back shots.

 

WWU (10-1-3, 9-0-1 GNAC) returns home next week for a pair of games at Harrington Field hosting Northwest Nazarene on Thursday and Central Washington on Saturday. Both matches feature a 7 pm kickoff. The complete 2022 season schedule with links to webcast info, live stats, updated statistics and team information is available at wwuvikings.com/22_WSOC.

 

#7 Western Washington 3, Montana St. Billings 0

Date: October 15, 2022

Field: Yellowjacket Field   Site: Billings, MT

Attendance: 150

 

Goals by period              1  2    Tot

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

#7 Western Washington......  3  0  -  3

MSU Billings...............  0  0  -  0

 

SCORING SUMMARY:

1.      12:13     WWU     Levinte (Potter)

2.      29:58     WWU     Muscutt (Rice)

3.      34:25     WWU     Levinte

 

Shots: WWU 19, MSUB 5

Shots on Goal: WWU 11, MSUB 2

Saves: WWU 2 (Henninger – 0, Trengove - 2), MSUB 8 (Keenan - 8)

Corners: WWU 8, MSUB 3

Fouls: MSUB 14, WWU 5

Offsides: WWU 3, MSUB 1

Kits: WWU (Black), MSUB (Pink)

Records: WWU (10-1-3, 9-0-1), MSUB (1-10-4, 1-7-2)

 

Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2022 season:

 

 

Here is a look at the updated records of the eight GNAC programs following play of Saturday's three early matches (SPU vs. SFU later tonight). The Vikings have already qualified as one of four teams for the 2022 GNAC Championships that will be held November 3-5 in Nampa, Idaho:

 

 

WWU swept the season series vs. Montana State Billings, recording a 2-0 win September 29 in Bellingham and today's 3-0 victory in Billings. WWU now leads the all-time series vs. MSUB 27-3-2 with a current 19-game winning streak and a 20-game unbeaten streak. The Vikings improved to 11-2-0 all-time in games played in Billings with eight consecutive wins. WWU has now out-scored MSUB 20-0 in the last five meetings.

 

The Vikings officially punched their ticket to the postseason as the first team to qualify for the four-team GNAC Championships that will be held November 3-5 in Nampa, Idaho. WWU has now qualified for each of the 10 GNAC Championships and is a five-time winner of the event with tournament titles in in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Western has advanced to the title game every season of the GNAC Championships and is 14-2-2 all-time in the GNAC postseason.

 

WWU has won 112 of its last 138 games dating back to the start of the 2016 national championship season, going 112-15-11 (.851) during this stretch. The program has won seven of the last nine GNAC regular-season titles (last in 2019), four of the last six GNAC Tournaments (last in 2019) and advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last nine seasons. During the nine-year stretch of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, WWU has reached the West Regional Championship match eight times and advanced to the NCAA II national semifinals four times (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019). Western has a current streak of 18 consecutive winning seasons for one of the top-10 longest active streaks in NCAA II.

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2022 season schedule and results. WWU is 10-1-3 on the season and 9-0-1 in GNAC play following Saturday's 3-0 road victory over Montana State Billings:

 

 

There are likely to be a lot of tie games this season with new NCAA soccer rules for 2022 which eliminates overtime during the regular season. Any match that is tied at the 90-minute mark will now end that way, which means no overtime or golden goal scenarios. In the postseason, there will be overtime but no more golden goal; teams will play two full 10-minute extra periods regardless of any goals and if it is still tied, the advancing team will be decided on penalty kicks. Just for kicks, the WWU single-season record for ties is five set in 1981, and most recently four in 2009, 2010 and 2014 (WWU has three this season).

 

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 nine consecutive appearances in the NCAA Championships. WWU has advanced to the NCAA II Final Four in four of the last eight seasons and played for the West Region championship in eight of the last nine seasons (six consecutive). 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 nine 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 20th season leading the program in 2022 (27th overall at WWU) and has led the Vikings to 11 trips to the NCAA Championships (9 straight) and 28 consecutive winning seasons. He picked up his 400th career victory October 16, 2021 vs. Simon Fraser. 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. Over the last eight seasons (since 2015), the Vikings have combined for a 133-17-11 (.858) record. WWU's 179 wins during the 2010s decade were the 6^th-most out of 1,043 NCAA women's soccer programs.