BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's soccer team wraps up the 2024 season this week with Senior Night on Thursday hosting Western Oregon at Harrington Field.

 

The second-place Vikings and first-place Wolves will battle in a 7 pm match-up in Bellingham, with Senior Night festivities scheduled to begin at 6:45 pm. The GNAC does not have a postseason men's soccer tournament, but will be adding one next season with three teams advancing to the postseason tournament.

 

WWU student-athletes Adan Fernandez, Kaydin Wall, Eric Bunnell, Diego Alvarado, Andrew Rotter, Jacob Sundberg and Lucas Hakamada will be playing in their final collegiate game. The seven players have combined to appear in 397 games during their career as Vikings.

 

The Vikings head into the final week of the season with a 9-5-3 overall record and are in 2nd place in the GNAC table with a 7-3-1 record (22 points). WWU had its seven-game winning streak snapped last Saturday with a 1-0 loss at Montana State Billings to dash any hopes of a return to the postseason.

 

A victory over the Wolves would secure the program's fifth double-digit win season since 2016.

 

WWU heads into the final week of the season ranked 2nd in the conference with a 1.12 goals against average and 4th averaging 1.65 goals per game. Senior forward Eric Bunnell leads the team and is tied for 3rd in the conference with seven goals and reigning GNAC Offensive Player of the Week Kaydin Wall is 2nd in the conference with seven assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Charlie Dyer is 2nd in the GNAC in goals against average while playing every minute of the season between the pipes. 

 

 

WWU will honor its seven-player senior class prior to Thursday's regular-season finale vs. Western Oregon. The Vikings senior class includes Lucas Hakamada, Kaydin Wall, Jacob Sundberg, Diego Alvarado, Andrew Rotter, Eric Bunnell and Adan Fernandez.

 

WWU had its seven-game winning streak snapped Saturday with the 1-0 loss at Montana State Billings. The streak goes into the record books as tied for 5th-longest in program history.

 

 

Senior forward Eric Bunnell leads the team and is tied for 3rd in the GNAC with seven goals. He has scored six of his seven goals in GNAC play. Bunnell recorded back-to-back braces in recent games at Simon Fraser and Northwest Nazarene. His seven goals are the most by a Viking since current junior Albin Jonsson had nine goals during his freshman season in 2022 and Drew Farnsworth tallied seven in 2021.

 

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

 

 

Senior midfielder Kaydin Wall is the reigning Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Offensive Player of the Week. Wall played an instrumental role in the Vikings 3-2 home win over Simon Fraser last week, scoring the game-winning goal and contributing assists on the other two goals. The victory over the Red Leafs secured a season sweep for WWU over SFU and extended the Vikings winning streak to seven consecutive games. The senior midfielder has started all 17 games during the 9-5-3 campaign while playing 1404 of 1530 possible minutes. Wall has scored three goals (2 game winners) and is 2nd in the GNAC with seven assists.

 

Since moving home games to Harrington Field on the south edge of campus in 2014, the Vikings have combined to go 52-25-15 for a .647 winning percentage (6-2-1 in 2024, 4-2-2 in 2023, 7-1-3 in 2022). WWU is 35-13-8 at Harrington Field over the last six seasons (since 2018). Combining with the WWU women's team, both programs have combined to go 144-32-24 (.780) playing at Harrington Field.

 

Here is a look at the series history between the Vikings and opponent this week:

 

• Western Oregon: WWU was defeated by WOU 1-0 on October 3 in Monmouth…all-time series is tied 2-2-1 since the Wolves debuted as a program in 2022…WWU is undefeated at 1-0-1 all-time vs. WOU in home games at Harrington Field…the Vikings held the Wolves to one goal in the previous meeting this season, marking one of only two times in conference play WOU has not scored multiple goals in a game.

 

Head coach Greg Brisbon recorded his 100th career victory with the 3-2 win at NNU last Thursday. Brisbon is 102-68-33 (.584) overall leading the Vikings in 12 seasons with a 69-42-22 (.602) mark in GNAC contests. He becomes the third GNAC men's soccer head coach to reach the 100-win mark joining Mark Collings of SPU (129-68-32, 13 seasons) and current WWU women's coach Travis Connell (106-108-16, 12 seasons) who led the men's program from 2001-12. Brisbon has been associated with WWU Soccer for 23 seasons.

 

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 final week of conference. Western Oregon has clinched the GNAC title. 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 and game-by-game results:

 

 

Junior winger Albin Jonsson has made 51 career appearances in three seasons with the Vikings, combining to score 16 goals and contributing 10 assists for 42 total points. Jonsson is tied for 15th in program history in points, tied for 13th in goals scored and tied for 4th with seven game-winning goals.

 

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.

 

The Vikings are led by four co-captains in 2024 with seniors Lucas Hakamada and Jacob Sundberg, junior Joar Tidblom and sophomore Edgar Serrano forming the team leadership group.

 

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 77-46-26 (.604) with a 51-26-16 (.634) record in GNAC play. Brisbon owns an all-time head coaching record of 102-68-33 (.584). He is assisted in 2024 by Chuck Pitts, Matt Zigulis and Kyle Langowski. Brisbon recorded his 100th career head coaching victory with the 3-2 victory on October 31 at Northwest Nazarene.

 

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 68 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.