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College Notebook 11.21.18: CCC Sides Sweep NAIA Tourney Openers

The big story of last week came out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference yet again as all five teams, including the fifth-place season finisher Northwest University women, advanced to the championship events in California and Alabama the week of November 26 to December 1. On the flip side of matters, the postseason runs for nearly all of the other programs and players from the region came to an end last week with a few exceptions. Notably still in action is Camryn Wendlandt's (Coeur d'Alene, ID) Baylor Bears while the Portland Pilots, featuring RJ Stretch (Spokane, WA), were knocked out after winning their opener.

HS UPDATE 11.17.18: St George's Girls Win State Title; Kamiakin and CV Finish Third

The St George's Dragons captured their second girls championship of three consecutive 1B/2B title game appearances. Meanwhile Central Valley and Kamiakin won the 4A and 3A consolation matches to finish third in the the state tournament. Deer Park fell 2-1 in their consolation match.

The second championship for the Dragons came by defeating the same Kalama side they defeated two years ago for the the previous crown. In their bid to repeat last year they fell 1-0 to Life Christian.

INWsn College Best XI - Week 13: Michkiosky, Wennin Lead Teams to CCC Titles

A literal second season in the Cascade Collegiate Conference for the top eight with a second automatic berth at stake following the regular season champions already earning a berth to the NAIA dance, many of the leagues teams had a chance to make a run to the national tournament over the course of four days in Springfield, Oregon last week.

Katie Michkiosky (Wenatchee, WA / Wenatchee Valley College) and Kristofer Wennin helped lead fifth seed Northwest University and third seed Rocky Mountain College to surprise championships to claim those berths.

HS UPDATE 11.13.18: Regional Foursome Headed to Final Four

Central Valley avenged their earlier playoff loss in districts to Gonzaga Prep Friday night in the State Quarterfinals and Deer Park avoided a potential heartbreaker in a shootout as they joined big winners Kamiakin and St George's in heading to the State Final Four.

College Notebook 11.13.18: Surprises Highlight CCC Tourneys for NAIA Berths as NCAA Tourneys Kicked Off

After a week off the Cascade Collegiate Conference held its postseason tournaments to determine who will join the regular season champions in the NAIA Tournaments. Both number two seeds were upset in the opening round, but Corban would still earn an at-large berth on the men's side despite the loss to Carroll. In the women's tournament, it was Carroll on the losing end of that scenario as the Saints were knocked out in the opener. They were not alone though as regular season champion Eastern Oregon was the lone team of the top four to survive the first day. In the end, third seed Rocky Mountain took the men's title in a shootout against regular season champion Southern Oregon and five seed Northwest completed a fantastic run with a win against EOU.

In national tournament action there were no real surprises as Washington State took care of business against Montana and Santa Clara and Baylor, featuring players from the region, advanced in the Division I tournament. In Division II play, Western Washington reversed the regular season and GNAC tournament results with a second round victory against Concordia in the women's tournament. In Division III play both Puget Sound women Pacific Lutheran men were knocked out, though the Lutes put up a fight in a narrow 1-0 loss in Minnesota.

HS UPDATE 11.9.18: Central Valley Win Sets Up Third Meeting with Prep

Wednesday's slate of remaining First Round state playoff matches did not go as well for local sides with Central Valley the lone team to advance to the second round, winning handily at Eastmont, who had finished third in the MCC but won the district playoff tournament. Richland fell in the other 4A contest at Puyallup and Mt Spokane was knocked out in a narrow one at Shorewood.

INWsn College Best XI - Week 12: Hansen Leads Griz to Big Sky Title

Defense has been the staple of the University of Montana game this season and the fifth seed Griz used three shutout performances to run the table at the Big Sky Tournament to win the league championship and a berth to the NCAA tournament, avenging their only two losses of the season in the process.

INWsn Player of the Week selection Taylor Hansen was at the heart of not only that defensive effort, but played a key role in the attack for the first two victories, registering assists on all three goals. She drove up the right side against Northern Arizona and struck a pinpoint ball to Janessa Fowler for the 1-0 winner. In the semifinals she sent a perfect ball forward from midfield to Alexa Coyle who spun and fired for the opening goal in a 2-0 win against Weber State in which she also helped set up the second, connecting with fellow back Taryn Miller (Spokane, WA), who delivered a long ball forward to Fowler in the box for the second goal.

Navarro helped Saint Martin's win twice in a bid to finish second in the GNAC only to come up a point short of Western Washington, which also finished the season on a winning run.

INWsn HS Best XI - Week 10: Le Honored Amidst Group of Standout Performances

Postseason play often inspires standout performances and that was the case last week as nearly every player selected for the Best XI could arguably have been chosen as the INWsn Player of the Week.

HS UPDATE 11.7.18: Area Schools Nearly Sweep In First Set of First Round Games

It was a great night for the Spokane area and MCC schools in the First Round of State Tournament action as they pair of GSL and MCC schools both won and the trio from the Northeast A League swept their games in dominant fashion, outscoring their opponents 21-4. The only side to slip up was East Valley, which was never able to come back from an early deficit at home.

College Notebook 11.6.18: Not Quite Done Yet... It Is Tourney Time

While some programs celebrated their seniors in their final games of the year, others were looking for victories in tournaments or league play to close out their season on a positive note and earn national tournament berths. Among those were Montana and Santa Clara. The Grizzlies finished off an impressive upset run in the Big Sky Conference to claim the league title and Santa Clara posted seven goals in their finale. Both are headed to the tournament along with Washington State and several other sides with ties to the Inland Northwest.

Here's a recap of the weekend's action and the tournament brackets announced on Monday.

HS UPDATE 11.5.18: Local Schools Ready for State Tournaments

Redemption Saturday proved to be just that for top seeds Mt Spokane and Richland as they avenged earlier playoff losses in winning the consolation matches to earn state berths into the 3A and 4A tournaments. In cross-over play-in contests the NEA duo of Lakeside and Freeman swept versus Caribou Trail League opposition in 1A play and the GNL's East Valley and Cheney split against the CWAC with the Knights moving onto the state tournament and the Blackhawks being knocked out in overtime.

Check out the weekend's results and the upcoming state tourney schedules...

NWAC East Tonight 11.4.18: And Then There Were None

Saturday was a rough one for the NWAC East, which went from sweeping the previous weekend to being completely knocked out of the postseason. In six contests only Walla Walla's Jennifer Inions and Columbia Basin's Emilio Herrera - both from Prosser, WA - were able to find the back of the net.

College Notebook 11.3.18: Weaver Leads Cougs While Tourney Play Heats Up Elsewhere

Morgan Weaver put on one of the biggest shows of the week thus far with a hat-trick to lead Washington State to a 3-1 win in the Apple Cup, but the University of Montana is in the midst of a great run in the Big Sky tournament and Haley Berryman (Ephrata, WA / Walla Walla CC) has Minot State on a run as well in the NSIC playoffs.

Here's a recap of the week's action thus far..

HS UPDATE 11.2.18: Prep Claims Crown as Results Set Up Redemption Saturday

A huge second half from Chelsea Le led Gonzaga Prep to an eye-opening 3-0 win against Central Valley in a cold and wet 4A district final Thursday. The other  contests, meanwhile, set up 'Redemption Saturday' in the two consolation finals in the losers brackets. Top GSL 3A seed Mt Spokane will get a chance to avenge their loss to league foe Shadle Park while top MCC 4A seed Richland looks to avenge its shootout defeat from the opening round at the hands of University, the fourth seed out of the GSL.

INWsn HS Best XI - Week 9: Benjamin Leads Highlanders in Playoff Run

The Highlanders went into the postseason with a lone victory on the season against lowly Rogers. It looked like the postseason was going to go in that same direction as they opened up on the road against a Southridge side that finished fourth in the MCC overall with a 10-4 record and were down two goals after 27 minutes. Somehow, they found a spark and went on a fantastic playoff that saw them post twice as many wins in three days as they had all season.

NWAC East Tonight 10.31.18: East Sweeps Along with the West in Opening Round

It was a good day for the East sides in the first round of the NWAC playoffs as they swept their four contests with both three seeds winning on the road and the two seeds prevailing at home. All four were close one-goal affairs in a day's slate that saw seven of the eight games decided by just one goal, two of them in overtime. Matters were especially tight on the men's side where there were no goals before the 60th minute in any of the four games. Also sweeping all four matches on the day was the West.