Boise State celebrated a fantastic road trip that netted a spot in the Mountain West Conference tournament, posting a 1-1 draw against league leading UNLV and a shutout win at Nevada.
In the Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Central Washington has locked up one of the four tournament berths on the women's side thanks to a win over Northwest Nazarene before dropping their second match to Western Washington, which has clinched the regular season title with two games left. Concordia, loaded with several players from the region, is three points back, trying to catch the duo of Seattle Pacific and Simon Fraser in the race for the other two spots.
On the men's side of the GNAC, Northwest Nazarene (5-1-2) and MSU-Billings (4-2-3) are within range of leader Simon Fraser (6-0-2) with four games remaining in the race for the regular season title (no conference tournament). NNU's unbeaten streak - all one-goal decisions - reached seven games (5-0-2). They topped Seattle Pacific 1-0 in overtime and then Concordia 1-0 in regulation, which was a nice change of pace as the result ended their string of six consecutive overtime games.
But the game of the week was in Spokane where Gonzaga followed up Friday's victory that ended their five-game losing streak (four in conference) with a stunning comeback rally against Pacific in which they erased a two goal deficit and tallied an overtime winner in the span of 11 minutes.
"Everything has been so incredibly hard this year. I just felt like we deserved to win and I would have been heartbroken if we couldn't have pulled that out," said Gonzaga head coach Amy Edwards. "We made it so difficult on ourselves, but what a Senior Day. The parents and everyone storming the field - in my eight years I've never seen that before."
The Bulldogs had the better of play from the beginning but found themselves down one after a penalty in the 11th and two when a nice curling shot was put out of Sarah Swanson's reach in the 39th. The Bulldogs got one back in the 62nd when Aliyah Miller nodded in a corner from Taylor Kernion, but the excitement was cut short with the Tigers scoring just three minutes later to restore the two goal lead.
Two goals was a huge hole to overcome on a pitch that had the consistency of a sponge spanning an area stretching from end-to-end on the bench side and several other spots, encompassing about half the playing field. Drowned by the persistent rains of the past two weeks, the usually pristine and well maintained pitch needed rollers to remove excess water earlier in the week.
"We were looking around at this field and wondering is it ideal for the way we want to play with Karley Baggerly's speed? We had to make some adjustments Friday night, and this field almost is even worse today," Edwards said. "Things have slowed down, so getting in behind was even tougher for Karley, but she kept battling and fighting. Just so proud of the seniors' mentality. Sarah Carter did a great job at centerback holding down the fort, Kristin Standish has moved to left back and had done fabulous. We gave up three goals, but our defenders were very much a part of our attack in our comeback to get four goals."
The Zags went into the final stages of the game with a double-digit advantage in shots, but were being stymied by the visiting keeper until the final 10 minutes produced a thrilling rally. In the 82nd minute a chest-high cross played into the middle of the box by Kelly Bieraugel was headed down by Sydney Anderson into the lower right corner of the goal out of the keeper's reach to pull the Zags within one.
With time slipping away, it looked like the Bulldogs were going to come up short despite chance after chance, but with just 42 seconds left Carter collected the ball in midfield and launched it back into the box, finding the head of Anderson, who flicked it further ahead. Miller rose around the penalty spot and got her head to it just a fraction of a second before the keeper arrived sending it on goal before being clotheslined by the keeper's follow-through. As the leveled hero laid flat on the ground, she was smothered beneath a dog-pile of exuberant teammates.
Already reeling from giving up two late goals, the Tigers were devastated in the opening minute of overtime when Baggerly took a throw-in from Standish and sent a ball from the left in to an on-rushing Biegaugel, who one-timed her effort from about 13 yards for the victory, completing an amazing 11-minute span for the Zags.
"It's a huge class. I've been very proud of them stepping up and being very selfless leaders and stewards," she said of her group of nine seniors. "I am just extremely excited that they were able to have this excitement on their senior day and finish off on a positive note on our home field, but we don't end the season today - we got a lot left to do. We've had some hard times. I felt we've played some really good soccer but not gotten the results so I am hoping they can continue to believe in themselves and gain more confidence from this."
DI WOMEN ##############
Thursday, October 20
Washington State 0 :: 3 USC
The Cougars gave up the opener in the 23rd and the Trojans doubled their lead four minutes into the second half. The fifth-ranked hosts put the match out of reach in the 84th. MORE [+]
Friday, October 21
Boise State 1 :: 1 UNLV
The Rebels grabbed the lead 29 minutes into the match off of a corner kick and held the advantage until midway through the second half when a free kick from 20 yards out was knocked home by Baylee Blaser (Boise, ID) in the 63rd minute to give the Broncos the draw against the league-leaders despite being outshot 31-9 in the game. Janelle Flores made a dozen saves. MORE [+]
Saint Mary's 1 :: 2 Gonzaga
Just over nine minutes into the contest Taylor Kernion collected a loose ball and put the Bulldogs on the board. Just shy of the hour mark, the Zags doubled the lead when Karley Baggerly fed a through ball to Mari Kneisel for an important insurance goal that proved to be the winner when the Gaels scored on a corner kick in the 76th minute. MORE [+]
Northern Arizona 2 :: 2 Idaho
North Colorado 3 :: 2 Eastern Washington
North Dakota 0 :: OT :: 1 Montana
Southern Utah 3 :: 0 Idaho State
Big Sky Tonight Round-Up [+]
Sunday, October 23
WCC - Pacific 3 :: OT :: 4 Gonzaga
See INWsn Feature Recap above. MORE from GU [+]
Washington State 1 :: 2 UCLA
The 12th-ranked Bruins took the lead in the 18th minute and held onto it until the late stages of the contest when Kelsee Crenshaw found Alysha Overland (Moses Lake, WA / CC Spokane) in the box for the equalizer in the 77th minute. The joy was dashed, though, just 41 seconds later when the hosts struck for the winner. MORE [+]
Boise State 2 :: 0 Nevada
Raimee Sherle (Meridian, ID) beat several players before feeding the ball to Falon Miller for the go-ahead goal in the 25th minute. Thirteen minutes later Sherle set up the insurance goal, drawing multiple defenders to her before sending the ball to Baylee Blaser (Boise, ID) to double the lead. Janelle Flores went on to finish with seven saves for a league-leading fifth shutout, which is just one shy of the league record of six in a season for the MWC. It also put the junior tied for second most career clean sheets (14) in Boise State history with Maddy McDevitt and three shy of Liz Ruiz's record of 17. MORE [+]
Southern Utah 0 :: 4 Idaho
Eastern Washington 6 :: 1 North Dakota
Northern Colorado 0 :: 0 Montana
Northern Arizona 1 :: 0 Idaho State
Big Sky Tonight Round-Up [+]
ELSEWHERE: Averie Collins (Bozeman, MT) scored the second goal for Stanford in a 2-0 victory against Colorado and then set up both goals in a 2-0 victory against Utah... Maryn Beutler (Bend, OR) tallied the lone goal for Oregon in a 1-0 win against Arizona and scored the opener in a 4-0 win against Arizona State... Kara Marbury (Spokane, WA) scored the opening goal for Illinois in a 2-1 win over Iowa.
Coming Up...
Thursday, October 27
PAC12 - Oregon State @ Washington State 7:00
Friday, October 28
MWC - Utah State @ Boise State 4:00
WCC - Gonzaga @ Santa Clara 7:00
Sunday, October 30
WCC - Gonzaga @ San Francisco 1:00
PAC12 - Oregon @ Washington State 1:00
DI MEN #############
Friday, October 14
Gonzaga 1 :: 3 Washington
The Huskies scored just over two minutes in and doubled the lead in the seventh for a commanding early lead. A penalty converted in the 17th put the Zags in a three goal hole they were unable to rally out of with their lone goal coming from Christo Michaelson in the 29th on a ball from Jake Kempf. MORE [+]
ELSEWHERE: Sam Werner (Bozeman, MT) helped set up the opening goal for Stanford in a 3-2 victory over UCLA.
Coming Up...
Friday, October 28
San Diego @ Gonzaga 6:00
Sunday, October 30
Loyola Marymount @ Gonzaga 1:00
DII GNAC WOMEN ##############
Tuesday, October 18
Western Oregon 1 :: 1 Concordia
Trailing since the 19th minute, McKenna Stocker (Spokane, WA / Shadow WFT) drove through the defense and put the ball into the upper right corner with just over 10 minutes remaining in the match to earn the draw.
Thursday, October 20
MSU-Billings 0 :: 1 Saint Martin's
The Saints scored 11 minutes into the match and kept the Yellowjackets off the board despite being outshot 12-7 in the contest. MORE [+]
Northwest Nazarene 0 :: 2 Central Washington
A blocked header by Molly Mortensen off a corner was collected by Mackenzie Nolte, who found Bailey Martoncik for the go-ahead goal in the 19th minute. Nolte was the provider again for the insurance tally, delivering a cross from the right side that Kennedy Anson put away from about 15 yards. Kelsey Bechtholdt made three saves for the shutout. MORE: NNU [+] CWU [+]
Concordia 0 :: 1 Simon Fraser
Western Washington 4 :: 0 Seattle Pacific
Saturday, October 22
Northwest Nazarene 1 :: 0 Saint Martin's
The Crusaders snapped their four-game losing streak and gave them their first road win of the year with a late strike from Cassandra Clarke (Blackfoot, ID / Treasure Valley CC) , who nodded in a corner from Madi Taylor (Lewiston, ID / Treasure Valley CC) in the 85th minute. Daniele Ortiz made two saves for the clean sheet. MORE [+]
MSU-Billings 3 :: 3 Seattle Pacific
The Falcons took the initial lead in the 27th minute, but the Yellowjackets answered when Kylee Wolfe stole the ball and finished from about 10 yards in the 35th for a level score at the break. Jordan Devoto (Wilsall, MT) chipped a ball over the keeper on an assist from Bailey Griglio in the 54th to put MSUB in front. Alycia Wright made the advantage two in the 74th on a cross from Hayley Warren, but the hosts would rally to tie it up in the next five minutes for a draw. MORE [+]
Central Washington 1 :: 4 Western Washington
The league-leading Vikings scored 20 minutes in and doubled the advantage 10 minutes later for a two goal lead at the break. A long ball from Allie Bohnett set up Abby Litka in the 50th to pull the Wildcats back within one, but the hosts scored in the 70th to restore the margin and put it out of reach with another in the 88th as they clinched their league record fifth consecutive regular season championship. MORE [+]
Simon Fraser 1 :: 0 Western Oregon
Remaining Regular Season Schedule...
Tuesday, October 25
Saint Martin's @ Western Oregon 1:00
Thursday, October 27
Simon Fraser @ MSU-Billings 2:00
Seattle Pacific @ Western Oregon 3:00
Western Washington @ Northwest Nazarene 4:00
Central Washington @ Concordia 4:00
Saturday, October 29
Central Washington @ Saint Martin's 12:00
Western Washington @ MSU-Billings 1:00
Simon Fraser @ Northwest Nazarene 1:00
Seattle Pacific @ Concordia 6:00
DII GNAC MEN #############
Thursday, October 20
Concordia 4 :: 1 MSU-Billings
The Cavaliers took the early lead 14 minutes in, but the Yellowjackets answered quickly with two goals in the next six minutes to take the lead. JD Hauenstein (Spokane, WA / Shadow MFT) found Julien Dragomir in the 15th minute and Chad Triplett scored the go-ahead goal in the 20th from about 35 yards out that ricocheted in off the post. Dragomir pushed the lead to two in the 65th minute with a header and Ricardo Palomino put the match out of reach in the 82nd. MORE [+]
Seattle Pacific 0 :: 1 Northwest Nazarene
Locked in a stalemate, Ryan Foo had nine saves for the Crusaders in the shutout win while Cody Lang (Spokane, WA) had 10 for the visiting Falcons before a penalty in the 108th minute decided the contest. Alex Mitrovic converted from the spot following a handball in the box on a corner. It was a dramatic affair with NNU going down to 10 men in the 85th when Luis Seino was sent off for a second yellow, but the visitors also lost a player to a red in the 93rd, evening things up. MORE [+]
Saint Martin's 0 :: 3 Western Washington
Eleazar Galvan (Chelan, WA / Wenatchee FC) set up the final goal for the Vikings in the win.
Saturday, October 22
Concordia 0 :: 1 Northwest Nazarene
A goal two minutes in on a Linus Mansson corner put away by Christian Adamson extended the Crusaders' unbeaten streak to to seven games (5-0-2). The hosts dominated the contest and took further control in the 63rd when Concordia was reduced to 10 men. Ryan Foo made three saves for the shutout. MORE [+]
Seattle Pacific 0 :: 1 MSU-Billings
Scoreless through the first half, JD Hauenstein (Spokane, WA / Shadow MFT) found Niklas Schregel four minutes into the second half for the deciding tally in the contest. Joe Scott (Spokane, WA / Shadow MFT) made four saves to record the shutout. MORE [+]
Saint Martin's 0 :: 5 Simon Fraser
Coming Up...
Thursday, October 27
MSU-Billings @ Simon Fraser 7:00
Seattle Pacific @ Concordia 7:00
Northwest Nazarene @ Western Washington 7:00
Saturday, October 29
Seattle Pacific @ Saint Martin's 3:15
Northwest Nazarene @ Simon Fraser 7:00
MSU-Billings @ Western Washington 7:00
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