BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's soccer team carries a four-game winning streak into a busy week of GNAC action this week. 

 

The Vikings have surged into a tie for second place in the standings with four consecutive conference wins, standing at 6-4-3 overall and 4-2-1 (13 points) in GNAC play. WWU is coming off wins over Seattle Pacific (2-1) and Simon Fraser (3-1) to extend its winning streak to four consecutive games, tied for 10th-longest in program history.

 

WWU travels to play at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday in Nampa, Idaho, with kickoff at 4 pm MT/3 pm PT and returns home Harrington Field hosting Saint Martin's on Saturday with kickoff set for 4 pm in Bellingham.

 

The current winning streak started with a 2-1 home victory over Montana State Billings followed by a 7-2 road win over Saint Martin's. The winning streak is the longest since an eight-game winning streak in 2019.

 

The Vikings enter the week tied for the GNAC lead with a 1.08 goals against average and are 4th in the conference averaging 1.62 goals per game. Sophomore goalkeeper Charlie Dyer has logged every minute between the pipes in the Vikings 13 games, ranking 2nd in the conference in goals against average.

 

Senior forward Eric Bunnell leads the team and is tied for 4th in the GNAC with five goals after recording his first career brace last Saturday at SFU. Senior Andrew Rotter is second on the team with three goals and Albin Jonsson, Adan Fernandez, Edgar Serrano and Joar Tidblom each have contributed a pair of goals. Led by four assists from Kaydin Wall, the Vikings are tied for 2nd in the GNAC with 23 assists.

 

Following this week's schedule, the Vikings have three remaining games in the regular season, with two at Harrington Field. WWU hosts Simon Fraser on Thursday, November 7 (5 pm), and travels to Montana State Billings on Saturday, November 9 (6 pm MT). The regular-season finale and Senior Night will be held Thursday, November 14 vs. Western Oregon at Harrington Field.

 

Head coach Greg Brisbon (12th season as HC) is one win short of 100 for his career, going 99-67-33 (.580) since taking over the program in 2013. Brisbon is in his 23rd year associated with WWU soccer spending a number of years as the lead assistant coach.

 

 

The first edition of the NCAA Division II Soccer Regional Rankings was released Wednesday, with 12 teams listed alphabetically from each of the four super regions. WWU is listed in the Super-Region 4 rankings with a 6-4-3 overall record and according to the rankings on InkBlotSports.com has the No. 12 RPI (.549) and PI (16.923) in the region.

 

Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2024 season:

 

 

WWU has a current 4-game winning streak that dates back to the 7-2 win at Saint Martin's on October 12. The four consecutive wins is tied for the 10th-longest winning streak in program history:

 

 

All games during Great Northwest Athletic Conference play – home or away – will feature a live webcast via YouTube. Home games will stream through Vikings TV, with fans able to access the games online by searching for WWU Athletics on YouTube. Here are links to follow games this week with the Vikings on the road.

 

·         Webcast – Live Coverage

·         Live Stats – wwuvikings.com/MS_Stats

 

Here is a look at the overall records for the seven GNAC programs heading into Thursday's games to open the fifth week of conference. Updated conference standings, schedules, results and statistics can be found online at GNACsports.com.

 

 

Tickets can be purchased at the Harrington Field Office beginning one hour prior to kickoff. Current WWU students gain free admission to all home events in 2024-25 by showing their active W card at the entrance. Free fan parking is available in C lots adjacent to Harrington Field and the 12G diagonal parking on College Way. Advanced ticket sales and season ticket packages are also available online at wwuvikings.com/Tickets.

 

Here is a look at the Vikings 2024 regular-season schedule:

 

 

For the fourth time in the last seven years, the WWU men's soccer team has earned the prestigious United Soccer Coaches Team Academic Award. The Vikings maintained a team GPA of 3.48 during the 2023-24 academic year to lead all teams in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western also landed a Starting XI on the GNAC All-Academic team in 2024, extending an impressive stretch placing at least 10 student-athletes on the GNAC All-Academic team in each of the last eight years, combining for 93 academic all-conference honors during this stretch beginning in 2017.

 

In his 12th season as head coach and 23rd associated with WWU soccer, head coach Greg Brisbon has led the Vikings to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances since 2016. The Vikings played in the 2019 NCAA Championships and in the midst of a strong eight-season stretch (since 2016) combining to go 74-45-26 (.600) with a 48-25-16 (.629) record in GNAC play. Brisbon owns an all-time head coaching record of 99-67-33 (.580). He is assisted in 2024 by Chuck Pitts, Matt Zigulis and Kyle Langowski. Brisbon is one win short of reaching 100 career head coaching wins.

 

Fans can follow WWU men's soccer online at WWUVikings.com/MSOC, and via social media on Twitter (@SoccerWWU), Instagram (@wwu_msoccer) and Facebook (@WWUsoccermens).

 

The Western Washington University men's soccer program is led by head coach Greg Brisbon, who has spent over 20 seasons affiliated with WWU Soccer. The Vikings won the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, the third league trophy in program history, and advanced to the NCAA II Championships for the second time. The program completed its 44th varsity season in 2023 and has recorded a season record at or above the .500 mark in 11 of the last 12 seasons. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. Overall, the program has produced 63 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 30 First Team All-GNAC players and four GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001. Off the field, WWU has built a strong academic reputation with 93 GNAC All-Academic selections over the last eight years.