On the men's side where there is no tournament, Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser both picked up wins win the the Falcons clinching at least a share of the league title and the Canadians keeping within three points by downing third-place Northwest Nazarene.
The race for the Northwest Conference men's title is even closer going into the final game of the season as Whitworth and Pacific Lutheran each posted a pair of wins over the weekend. The Pirates hold a one-point advantage with a road game against last-place Whitman remaining while the Lutes will be playing host to rival and third-place Puget Sound.
Here's a recap of Division II & Division III action for last week
GNAC MEN #############
Thursday, October 29
MSU-Billings 0 :: 2 Saint Martin's
The Yellowjackets nearly got on the board first in the 31st minute when Sam Butterworth sent of shot off the crossbar, but instead gave up goals in the 39th and 71st minutes of the contest to the struggling Saints, who doubled their win total on the weekend. MORE [+]
Adam Talley (Spokane Valley, WA) put the Vikings in front twice with goals in the 17th and 30th minutes, but Julio Castillo provided an answer each time. He found Erik Anderson with a through ball in the 26th minute and scored himself in the 31st on the rebound of Michael Mollay (Boise, ID / Walla Walla CC) shot that hit the left post. Six minutes into the second half Castillo's shot was saved and put away by Mollay. With just under 15 minutes left Jaime Verdin and Anderson combined to set up Dennis Vivar-Diaz (Idaho Falls, ID) for some insurance. MORE [+]
Mary 1 :: 2 Seattle Pacific
Pavel Bryson (Boise, ID) scored the opening goal 20 minutes into the contest for the Falcons, who went on a two-goal lead enough for the win.
Simon Fraser 3 :: 1 Concordia
Saturday, October 31
Simon Fraser 2 :: 0 Northwest Nazarene
Hopes of making a late charge for the title after Thursday's result came to an end against the second-place Canadian side, which took the lead on a retaken penalty in the 24th minute after Ryan Foo's initial save was negated by a teammate's premature encroachment into the box. The Clan locked up the result in the 88th. MORE [+]
In a tightly-contested match, the ninth-ranked Falcons prevailed on a goal 10 minutes in and a pair of saves from Cody Lang (Spokane, WA). MORE [+]
Mary 2 :: 3 Saint Martin's
Derrick Gonzales (Moses Lake, WA) scored off a corner kick in the 36th minute to give the Saints their second en route to a three-goal lead in the win.
Western Washington 0 :: 3 Concordia
Standings
Seattle Pacific 9-1-3...Simon Fraser 8-2-3... Northwest Nazarene 7-5-1... Concordia 5-3-5... MSU-Billings 6-5-2... Saint Martin's 4-9-0... Western Washington 3-8-2... Mary 2-11-0 -- No conference tournament
Upcoming Games
Saturday, November 7
Mary @ MSU-Billings 3:00
Northwest Nazarene @ Concordia 4:30
Saint Martin's @ Seattle Pacific 7:00
Western Washington @ Simon Fraser 7:30
GNAC WOMEN #############
Thursday, October 29
The Wildcats edged the second-place Cavaliers to keep their postseason hopes alive going into their final game. After first half shots from Kaysha Darcy and Mackenzie Nolte hit the woodwork, Nolte scored on a ball from Whitney Lowe in the 69th minute and Sydney Williams made three saves for the shutout. MORE [+]
Western Oregon 0 :: 2 Seattle Pacific
Maddy Booster (Bend, OR) scored the second goal on a scramble in front of goal in the 82nd minute to add some insurance.
Northwest Nazarene 0 :: 4 Western Washington
The Vikings took the lead off a cross in the sixth minute and a through ball was crossed in for the second in the 29th. Another through ball set up the third in the 51st and a cross from Colleen Lindsay (Spokane, WA) was tapped in for the final strike. MORE [+]
Simon Fraser 4 :: 1 Saint Martin's
Saturday, October 31
The Yellowjackets got the win they needed to separate themselves from the Wildcats, but needed a bit more help to grab the fourth spot in the tournament. Alycia Wright finished on a through ball from Dana Lubieniecki in the 49th minute for what stood as the winner with Chloe Hopps making three saves in goal for the shutout. Western Oregon did the rest to get them in, posting an overtime win against Simon Fraser. MORE: CWU [+] MSUB [+]
Northwest Nazarene 0 :: 1 Saint Martin's
In a showdown of the bottom two sides in the conference, the winless Saints picked up their first victory of the year with a goal in the 26th standing for the win. MORE [+]
Carroll 0 :: 4 Seattle Pacific (NL)
Western Washington 1 :: 1 Concordia
Western Oregon 2 :: OT :: 1 Simon Fraser
Standings
Western Washington^ 11-0-1... Concordia* 8-2-2... Seattle Pacific* 7-3-2... MSU-Billings* 6-5-1... Simon Fraser 5-6-1... Central Washington 5-6-1... Western Oregon 4-7-1... Northwest Nazarene 2-9-1... Saint Martin's 1-11-0 -- ^ Clinched top seed, * Clinched tournament berth (4)
Upcoming Games - GNAC Women's Tournament
Thursday, November 5
Seattle Pacific v Concordia 4:00
MSU-Billings v Western Washington 7:00
Saturday, November 7
Championship 1:00
NWC MEN #############
Wednesday, October 28
Walla Walla University 0 :: 1 Whitman (NL)
A shot by Gabe Jacobson saved in the second minute was put away by Park Harmon, but the Missionaries were unable to add to that against the struggling NAIA side despite outshooting the Wolves 34-2 and having a man advantage for the final 16 minutes. MORE [+]
Linfield 1 :: 3 Whitworth
A couple of Pirate chances denied by great saves and a 14th minute goal put the visitors in front early, but four minutes later a blocked Samual Jarrett shot was put away by Tyler Cardinale to put the Bucs even. The match remained deadlocked until late in the contest when Karl Muelheims (Spokane, WA) struck twice in less than a minute. His first came in the 87th when he knocked home a Sam Engle shot that was saved. The second came in the 88th on a ball from Jonah Snyder. MORE [+]
Willamette 2 :: 0 Whitman
The Bearcats scored just under three minutes into the match to take control and added a second in the 70th for insurance. MORE [+]
Puget Sound 1 :: 1 George Fox
The Bruins got the equalizer in the 77th courtesy of Austin Fish (Spokane, WA), who scored on a rebound inside the box.
Pacific Lutheran 1 :: 0 Pacific
Sunday, November 1
The Pirates rolled to the win in their home finale. Muelheims played a key role again, this time in the early stages. He tallied eight minutes in on a low cross from Sam Donaldson, then provided a cross of his own in the 22nd that Engle scored on. Engle returned the favor, connecting with Muelheims, who went on a fantastic run up the left side to score six minutes into the second half. Snyder, Cardinale, and Christian Haas added goals with Eric Espinoza and Tanner Stepp providing moments of brilliance to set them up. INWsn REPORT [+]
Linfield 2 :: 0 Whitman
The visitors scored twice in less than three minutes to take a 2-0 lead in the 34th lead that stood for the result. MORE [+]
Puget Sound 0 :: 1 Pacific
Pacific Lutheran 8 :: 1 George Fox
Standings
Whitworth 11-1-1... Pacific Lutheran 11-2-0... Puget Sound 7-4-2... Linfield 5-8-0... Pacific 4-8-1... Willamette 4-8-1... George Fox 3-7-3... Whitman 2-9-2 -- No conference tournament
Coming Up
Saturday, November 7
Pacific @ George Fox 1:30
Willamette @ Linfield 2:30
Puget Sound @ Pacific Lutheran 6:00
Whitworth @ Whitman 7:00
NWC WOMEN #############
Saturday, October 31
Whitworth 0 :: 3 Puget Sound
The league-leaders had little trouble with the Pirates, scoring in the ninth and 22nd minutes to take command. Amalia Acorda-Fey completed a hat-trick performance in the 72nd. MORE [+]
Whitman 1 :: 2 Pacific Lutheran
Megan Zimmerman (Pasco, WA) set up the opening goal from the Lutes 54 minutes into the match, but Lena de Guzman tied it up 21 seconds later, heading in a ball from Clara Merlino in the 55th. PLU grabbed the winner with just 37 seconds left in regulation. MORE [+]
George Fox 1 :: 2 Willamette
Linfield 1 :: OT :: 2 Lewis & Clark
Whitworth 1 :: OT :: 2 Pacific Lutheran
After a lengthy stalemate Lindsay Foster put the Pirates in front against the second-place Lutes in the 85th minute on a strike from about 18 yards out. The excitement of a possible upset was short-lived, however, as the hosts found an equalizer 44 seconds later, sending the match to overtime where they prevailed after four minutes. MORE [+]
Whitman 0 :: 3 Puget Sound
The unbeaten Loggers rolled to another win with another two goals from Acorda-Fey, who also second up the second. MORE [+]
Lewis & Clark 0 :: OT :: 1 Willamette
Pacific 1 :: 2 Linfield
Standings
Puget Sound 10-0-4... Pacific Lutheran 11-2-1... Willamette 8-5-1... Linfield 6-5-3... Lewis & Clark 6-7-1... Whitworth 4-8-3... Whitman 2-7-6... Pacific 3-9-2... George Fox 3-10-1 -- No conference tournament
Coming Up
Saturday, November 7
Puget Sound @ George Fox 11:00
Lewis & Clark @ Whitworth 12:00
Pacific Lutheran @ Linfield 12:00
Sunday, November 8
Puget Sound @ Willamette 11:00
Lewis & Clark @ Whitman 12:00
George Fox @ Linfield 12:00
Pacific Lutheran @ Pacific 12:00
ADDITIONAL DII NOTES #############
Savannah Laursen (Boise, ID) scored the opening goal in the 71st, helped set up the second two minutes later and capped the scoring with her second goal in the 76th to give Redlands a 3-0 win over La Verne on Wednesday.
-- INWsn --
