BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the seventh consecutive season the Western Washington University women's soccer team will play in the West Regional Final of the NCAA Division II Championships, and the Vikings will get the chance to raise another trophy at Harrington Field.

 

WWU will serve as the third and fourth round host for the West and South Central Regional Championship games on Thursday and the national quarterfinal on Saturday in Bellingham.

 

The No. 10 nationally-ranked Vikings will be aiming for their fifth West Regional title taking on Concordia University Irvine on Thursday at 1 pm at Harrington Field. No. 1 Dallas Baptist and No. 9 Colorado School of Mines will battle for the South Central Regional title at 10 am Thursday. The national quarterfinal game will feature a 1 pm kickoff on Saturday.

 

WWU has won three of its four regional titles while playing on its home turf in 2013 at Whatcom Community College and 2015 and 2019 at Harrington Field. WWU also won a regional title in Golden, Colorado en route to the 2016 national title.

 

The winners of the regional finals will meet in the national quarterfinal (Elite Eight) Saturday, with a trip to the national championships final (Final Four) in Seattle December 1-3 at Interbay Stadium. 

 

The No. 2 seeded Vikings advanced to the West Regional Final with a 1-0 victory over No. 3 Point Loma last Saturday in Bellingham. No. 5 CUI defeated No. 1 Hawai'i Hilo in overtime, awarding the Western Washington as the host site. The West and South Central Region alternate years hosting the regional championship matches and the national quarterfinal (was hosted by DBU in Dallas last year).

 

This marks the eighth season WWU is hosting NCAA Championship games in Bellingham (all in the last nine seasons) and the seventh time to host at Harrington Field since the facility opened in 2014. In addition to playing in a seventh consecutive West Regional final (and ninth in the ninth in the last 10 seasons), WWU is making its 10th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships and looking to advance to the national championships for the fifth time in the last eight seasons (2013, 2015, 2016, 2019). 

 

Dating back to hosting its first NCAA Championships games at Orca Field at Whatcom Community College in 2013, the Vikings are 12-1-0 in home NCAA playoff games. Overall WWU has a 77-5-5 record (.914) at Harrington Field with an 9-1-0 record in NCAA Championships games.

 

All three third-fourth round games in Bellingham will stream live online at wwuvikings.com/VikingsTV. Tickets will be for sale at the Harrington Field Ticket Box Office starting one hour prior to kickoff. Free parking will be available in the C Lots located directly above Harrington Field during the day of each game.

 

Here is a look at the schedule for the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships Third and Fourth round games in Bellingham. The winner of Saturday's national quarterfinal will advance to the national championships (Final Four) in Seattle December 1-3.

 

 

Since Harrington Field debuted on the south edge of the WWU campus in 2014, the Vikings are 77-5-5 (.914) playing in front of the home crowd (7-1-1 in 2022). WWU had a 32-game unbeaten streak (29-0-3) at Harrington Field snapped vs. Seattle Pacific early in the 2021 season (previous home loss - Oct. 28, 2017 vs. Concordia). The Vikings are 11-2-0 at Harrington Field in postseason play, hosting NCAA games in 2014 (0-1-0), 2015 (3-0-0), 2016 (1-0-0), 2017 (1-0-0), 2019 (2-0-0), 2021 (1-0-0) and 2022 (1-0-0), and GNAC Championships games in 2016 (1-0-0) and 2021 (1-1-0). Including the men's program, WWU Soccer has a combined record of 118-26-17 (.786) at Harrington Field.

 

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

 

 

The Vikings extended their streak of consecutive seasons appearing in the NCAA Division II Championships to 10 consecutive seasons. WWU is appearing in its 12th overall NCAA postseason in program history. WWU played for the national title in 2019, are 4-0 all-time in national quarterfinal games and 2-2 in national semifinal contests. The program owns an all-time 24-9-1 record in NCAA Championships play (5-1 in 2019, 1-1 in 2021, 1-0 in 2022), winning at least one game in 10 of 12 trips to the NCAA postseason. WWU was crowned national champion in 2016 with a 24-0-1 record, capped by a 3-2 victory over Grand Valley State in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

The NCAA Division II Tournament is a single-elimination playoff starting with a 56-team field. Eight regional champions will be determined during third-round games, with the reginal winners paired in quarterfinal games at every site. The winner of the national quarterfinals (fourth round) advance to the championship finals, where the national semifinals and championship game will be played December 1 and 3 at Interbay Stadium in Seattle. Grand Valley State is the defending national champion, defeating Saint Rose 3-2 in double overtime last year in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

 

No. 2 seed WWU will play No. 5 Concordia in the West Regional Final Thursday at Harrington Field in Bellingham. CUI defeated No. 1 Hawaii Hilo Saturday 2-1 in overtime to advance to play the Vikings in the West Regional Championship match. Bellingham will also serve as the host for the South Central Regional Final (DBU vs. Colorado School of Mines) and the National Quarterfinal this week at Harrington Field. The NCAA II Championships Final Four that will be held December 1-3 as part of the Fall Sports Festival in Seattle. The women's and men's soccer championships will be played at Interbay Stadium. The complete bracket for the 56-team NCAA II Women's Soccer Championships is available online at NCAA.com.

 

WWU is 24-9-1 all-time its 12 trips to the NCAA Championships, recording at least one win in 10 of 12 appearances. Here is a game-by-game rundown of the Vikings in the NCAA Championships:

 

2006 (0-1):

Lost to UC San Diego, 4-0

 

2008 (1-1):

Defeated Cal State Dom. Hills, 1-0

Lost to Seattle Pacific, 1-0 (OT) - West Region Final

 

2012 (2-1):

Defeated Cal Poly Pomona, 2-1 (OT)

Defeated Sonoma State, 2-1 (OT)

Lost to UC San Diego, 2-1 (OT) – West Region Final

 

2013 (3-1):

Defeated Seattle Pacific, 2-0

Defeated Cal State San Bernardino, 1-0 – West Region Final

Defeated St. Edward's 2-0 - National Quarterfinal

Lost to West Florida, 2-1 (OT) – National Semifinal 

 

2014 (0-1):

Lost to Stanislaus State, 1-0

 

2015 (3-1):

Defeated Seattle Pacific, 1-0

Defeated Azusa Pacific, 1-0 – West Region Final

Defeated Dallas Baptist, 3-1 - National Quarterfinal

Lost to Grand Valley State, 3-2 – National Semifinal

 

2016 (5-0):

Defeated Central Washington, 2-0

Defeated UC San Diego, 2-1 (OT) – West Region Final

Defeated Colorado Mines, 5-1 - National Quarterfinal

Defeated Kutztown, 3-0 - National Semifinal

Defeated Grand Valley State, 3-2 – National Championship Game

 

2017 (1-1):

Defeated Sonoma State, 2-0

Lost to UC San Diego, 2-0 – West Region Final

 

2018 (2-0-1):

Defeated Sonoma State, 1-0

Defeated Concordia, 3-2 (OT)

Tied UC San Diego, 0-0 (2OT) – lost 4-1 on PK – West Region Final

 

2019 (5-1):

Defeated Stanislaus State, 1-0

Defeated Cal State LA, 1-0 (2OT)

Defeated Point Loma, 1-0 – West Region Final

Defeated Dixie State, 3-0 – National Quarterfinal

Defeated Flagler, 2-0 – National Semifinals

Lost to Grand Valley State, 1-0 (2OT) - National Championship Game

 

2020

No Tournament – COVID-19

 

2021 (1-1):

Defeated Point Loma, 1-0

Lost to Seattle Pacific, 2-1 – West Region Final

 

2022 (1-0):

Defeated Point Loma, 1-0

WWU vs. Concordia, 1 pm – West Regional Final

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2022 season schedule and results heading into the West Regional Final:

 

 

WWU won its sixth GNAC Championships title with a 1-0 win over Northwest Nazarene, adding the 2022 trophy to titles won in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. The Vikings were the No. 1 seed in the four-team championships after winning their ninth regular-season title. WWU has advanced to play in the championship game in all 10 GNAC Tournaments and is 16-2-2 all-time in the GNAC postseason. WWU and SPU are the only teams to qualify for every GNAC Tournament and have combined for nine of the 10 titles (WWU 6, SPU 3, Concordia 1).

 

The Vikings won their ninth regular-season title, adding to conference regular-season championships in 2008, 2012-16 and 2018-19. WWU has finished first or second in the final GNAC table in each of the last 10 seasons dating back to 2012.

 

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 10 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 nine of the last 10 seasons (seven consecutive including 2022). 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 eight of the last 10 Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season titles (2022 Champions) and won five of the last seven GNAC Tournament titles (2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022). Head coach Travis Connell is in his 20th season leading the program in 2022 (27th overall at WWU) and has led the Vikings to 12 trips to the NCAA Championships (10 straight) and 19 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 138-18-13 (.855) record.