State Colleges Report | SPU women aim for perfect season
When the Seattle Pacific University women’s soccer team takes the field Saturday in the second round of the NCAA tournament, it shouldn’t feel any first-game jitters.
Nine of the 11 starters for SPU have played in the tournament before, and seven of them logged significant minutes in the 2005 national-championship match when SPU came inches from a title but fell in overtime to Nebraska Omaha.
The similarities between the ‘05 team and this year’s squad are hard to ignore. Sarah Martinez was the Falcons’ leading scorer in ‘05 with 16 goals and six assists, the same numbers she has accumulated this season.
SPU entered the postseason in ‘05 undefeated with 17 wins and three ties. This year’s team is 20-0, ranked second and has the longest winning streak in the nation.
Coach Chuck Sekyra knows the experience gained in ‘05 has had a big effect on this year’s team.
“The experience has brought a confidence to the team that they can be very successful,” he said. “It has also given these girls a hunger to go out on top. We know we can beat anybody in the country.”
As the No. 1 team in the Far West region, Seattle Pacific receives a first-round bye and plays Saturday at 1 p.m. against the winner of No. 4 UC San Diego vs. No. 5 Cal State Dominguez Hills. That match takes place tonight at 7 at SPU’s Interbay Stadium. Tickets for both games are $7 for adults and $3 for students.
Also at SPU
Men’s soccer: SPU finished the season 7-6-7, extending its NCAA Division II record for consecutive winning seasons to 37 years (1971-2007).
Volleyball: The Falcons (14-10, 9-7) find themselves in nearly a dead heat for anywhere from a third- to seventh-place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference going into their final two matches, both on the road against Montana State Billings (17-9, 9-7) and Seattle U. (10-14, 7-9).
Seattle U.
Cross country: The women’s team placed sixth at the NCAA West Regional, the best finish in the meet for the program.
Women’s soccer: SU is hosting half of the Far West Regional, with Chico State facing Cal State Los Angeles on Friday at 1 p.m. and the winner taking on the Redhawks on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Men’s soccer: The Redhawks travel to Carson, Calif., for the Far West Regional, facing Sonoma State at Toro Stadium on Friday. SU is looking for its second consecutive regional title and third in the past four years.
Volleyball: SU will host its final two matches of the regular season, facing Northwest Nazarene today and Seattle Pacific on Saturday.
Washington
Women’s soccer: The Huskies, who close out the season at home Sunday against No. 1 UCLA, are 0-5 all-time against top-ranked opponents.
Men’s soccer: The seven-man senior class will be honored before the squad’s regular-season home finale against Stanford on Sunday at Husky Soccer Field at 2:30 p.m..
Volleyball: The fourth-ranked Huskies (22-1, 11-1 Pac-10) host No. 5 Stanford (22-2, 11-2) tonight and No. 7 California (19-5, 9-4) on Friday night. Stanford is one game behind UW in the Pac-10 standings, while Cal is the only school to have defeated the Huskies this season.
Washington St.
Volleyball: Sophomore defensive specialist and libero Kelly Hyder (Huntington Beach, Calif.) needs eight more digs to become the seventh Cougar in school history to reach 1,000 career digs.
Western Washington
Volleyball: Western needs one more win to clinch its first outright GNAC title since taking three in a row from 2001 to 2003.
Football: Senior linebacker Shane Simmons (Kentlake) leads the North Central Conference and ranks third nationally with 113 tackles, the most by a Viking since 1997. The school record of 164 was set in 1977 by Jim Sterk, now the athletic director at Washington State.
Men’s basketball: Western plays its second straight Division I opponent in an exhibition when it travels to Oregon State on Sunday. The Vikings lost 97-67 at Fresno State last Sunday.
Women’s basketball: Redshirt freshman guard Amanda Dunbar (Marysville-Pilchuck) and junior center Claire Pallansch (Redmond) earned all-tournament honors at Disney’s DII West Coast Tip-Off Classic.
Other colleges
Central Washington: Senior running back Johnny Lopez (Kennedy of Burien) has 975 rushing yards this season, needing just 25 to become the 10th player in CWU history - and the first since Emilio Iniguez in 2004 - with 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
Eastern Washington: The cross-country teams compete Saturday at the NCAA West Regional. Juniors Paul Limpf (Evergreen of Vancouver) and Mattie Bridgmon (Laramie, Wyo.) and senior Samantha Modderman (Walker, Minn.) earned All-Big Sky Conference honors.
Evergreen State: Junior forward Shawn Farrow (Clover Park of Lakewood) was named to the All-Cascade Conference first team for men’s soccer.
Northwest: Seniors Beth Knudtson (Issaquah) and Leonard Randall (Orofino, Idaho) have qualified for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships for the second consecutive year.
Pacific Lutheran: Freshman goalkeeper Daniel Mangum (Juanita of Kirkland) set a PLU men’s soccer record for goals-against average in a season. He became the starter before the fifth match and compiled a 0.54 average and nine shutouts. The previous record was 0.71 against set by Chris Steffy in 1987.
Sports information directors
contributed to this notebook.