Tuesday, November 6, 2018

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.

## Women's Scores & Notes ## 

Pac-12 & West Coast Conferences


WCC - Portland 0-1 Gonzaga :: Playing in an attacking role on the night, Jodi Ulkekul took the ball into the left corner and battled with a defender to find some space and deliver a ball into the area that India Jencks knocked on frame, deflecting off the keeper and bouncing over the line in the 54th minute for what proved to be the deciding goal. It proved to be historic as the victory was the first-ever for the Bulldogs against Portland with their only draw in 26 previous meetings coming in 2012. Their 5-2-2 record was good for fourth in the conference for the Zags, who were predicted in the preseason poll by the league's coaches to finish eighth. It's their best finish since they were third at 3-1-2 in 2005. The Zags two losses in league play came against Santa Clara and champion BYU, both of whom will keep playing in the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga also posted a win this season, 1-0, against tourney-bound Seattle University.  




WCC - Pacific 0-7 Santa Clara :: Perhaps wanting to make a statement ahead of the selection committee met, the Broncos smashed the Tigers to close out the season. Maria Sanchez (American Falls, ID) registered a four assists on the night, three of them in the first half. It was the second time she tied the program record. The four helpers also tied a single-season program mark at 14 for the season. Also getting on the board was Kelsey Turnbow (Spokane, WA) with the second goal of the game.



Standings:  PAC-12   WCC 

Big Sky Conference - TOURNAMENT (Ogden, Utah)


Championship: Montana 1-0 Northern Colorado :: Alexa Coyle (Bozeman, MT) scored her second goal of the tournament in the 58th minute to break the deadlock Sunday afternoon. It was redemption for her as a strike in the 17th minute of the contest went off the crossbar. McKenzie Warren and Janessa Fowler were key on the play as Warren got the ball on the right and with Fowler attracting two of the three defenders played a ball out of midfield over the back line, dropping it in no man's land about 15 yards from goal with Warren running past her defender to chase it down, knocking the bouncing ball past the keeper, who had hesitated on the play and left herself vulnerable in the middle of the box. The defense would finish the tournament with a perfectly clean slate with Claire Howard needing to make just two saves for her third tourney shutout.

Montana only allowed just seven goals this season against Big Sky opposition in 12 combined season and tournament games. Northern Colorado and Weber State were the only sides to score twice in a pair of 2-1 losses that the Griz avenged with shutout wins in the final four of the tournament.





All-Tournament Team 
MVP - F - Janessa Fowler - Montana
F - Alexa Coyle (Bozeman, MT) - Montana
G - Claire Howard - Montana
D - Taryn Miller (Greenacres, WA) - Montana
D - Taylor Hansen - Montana
M - Mariel Gutierrez - Northern Colorado
M - Maddie Roberts - Northern Colorado
D - Lindsi Jennings - Northern Colorado
D - Olivia Glassford - Weber State
M/F - Nixie Hernandez - Weber State
D - Kelly Dopke - Idaho
F - Brooke Sosa - Idaho

NCAA DI TOURNAMENT - Bracket 

First Round
11.9 Montana @ Washington State 7:00
11.9 Seattle U @ Stanford 7:00
11.10 Milwaukee @ Santa Clara 1:00
11.10 Abilene Christian @ Baylor 5:30
11.10 Ole Miss @ Clemson 3:00
Teams from PAC-12 & WCC
11.9 BYU @ TCU 5:00
11.9 San Jose State @ UCLA 6:00
11.9 Denver @ Arizona 6:00
11.9 Long Beach State @ USC 1:30

Great Northwest Athletic Conference - TOURNAMENT (Portland, OR)   

Championship Saturday - Concordia 2-1 (OT) Western Washington :: Kasey Ames (Liberty Lake, WA) scored her second goal of the weekend to put the Cavaliers in front in the 21st minute. Western Washington would tie it up off a loose ball in the 42nd and the two would go nearly another hour deadlocked before Sydney VanSteenberge, who helped set up the first, scored the game-winner in the 100th minute. Ames was honored as the Tournament MVP.  





NCAA DII TOURNAMENT - Bracket

Not surprisingly, Western Washington was invited back to the tournament. Joining them and host Concordia in their foursome of the bracket will be Sonoma State. If that sounds different than past seasons, it is. The tournament expanded from 48 teams to 56 this year with only eight teams having byes to the second round instead of 16. Also in the tournament, featuring area players, are Westminster (UT) and Minot State.

Schedule - "GNAC Grouping"
First Round - Thursday, November 8
6 - Sonoma State v 3 - Western Washington 11:00 (@ Concordia)
7 - Seattle Pacific @ 2 - Concordia 2:00
Second Round - Saturday, November 10
First Round Winners 2:00

Other Notable Games (different locations)
First Round - Friday, November 9
5 - Dallas Baptist v 4 - Westminster 12:00
7 - Minot State v 2 - Bemidji State 12:00

Northwest Conference - Standings 

Friday - Linfield 1-0 Pacific 

Saturday - Whitworth 0-3 George Fox :: The Bruins scored once in the first half and added two more in the second to lock up the victory.

Saturday - Whitman 2-3 OT Lewis & Clark :: After a scoreless first half Pagan Hetherington put the Blues in front twice, scoring in the 47th and again in the 65th after the Pioneers had pulled even. The hosts equalized again to force overtime and netted the winner in the 101st.  

Saturday - Pacific Lutheran 4-2 Willamette :: Brianna Hunting (Kennewick, WA) converted a penalty in the seventh minute and Savannah Brown (Kennewick, WA) doubled the lead in the 25th. Julia Fecteau (Bend, OR) would register an assist on Willamette's second goal that finished the scoring for the game.

Sunday - Whitman 0-1 George Fox :: The Blues nearly went to overtime for a second consecutive match, but a rebound on a late shot was put away 14 seconds from time for Bruins.

Sunday - Whitworth 2-1 Lewis & Clark :: Annie Clark scored her first goal for the Pirates in the 14th minute and Arielle Van Peursem made it two less than a minute later with what proved to be the game-winner.  

Sunday - Puget Sound 3-2 Linfield :: Amidee Colleknon (Bend, OR) scored to put the Wildcats up two, but the Loggers rallied with Lura Morton (Moscow, ID)

Sunday - Willamette 1-0 OT Pacific 

NCAA DIII TOURNAMENT - Bracket

11.10 Puget Sound @ Hardin-Simmons 11:00 am

Cascade Collegiate Conference - TOURNAMENT (Springfield, OR)  

Quarterfinals, Wednesday November 7
8-Corban v 1-Eastern Oregon 11:00
7-Rocky Mountain v 2-Carroll 11:00
6-College of Idaho v 3-Oregon Tech 2:00
5-Northwest v 4-Southern Oregon 2:00

Semifinals, Thursday November 8
Lowest Remaining Seed v Highest Remaining Seed 4:00
Two Other Seeds 4:00

Championship, Saturday November 10, 12:00

Around the Nation

Benedictine-Mesa 1-2 Embry-Riddle :: After falling behind Riley Martinson (Deer Park, WA) scored in the 29th and 90th to give the Eagles the win.

Minot State 0-1 Minnesota State :: The run for the Beavers came to a close with the Mavericks scoring in the 60th.

West Virginia 3-0 Baylor :: An own goal in the first half left the Bears trailing and the Mountaineers added two in the final 14 minutes to lock up the result.


## Men's Scores & Notes ## 

DIVISION I

WCC - Gonzaga 0-1 Saint Mary's :: The Gaels struck for the game-winner in the 76th minute. Ben Willis finished with seven saves for the Bulldogs, but there were unable to find an equalizer.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference - Standings 

Simon Fraser 2-0 MSU Billings :: There was a hopeful buzz at Yellowjacket Field in the second half as the game pressed on scoreless against the top-ranked Clan. Unfortunately, the visitors would finally break through with goals in the 76th and 81st for the victory.

Saint Martin's 6-1 Northwest Nazarene :: Skyler Munroe (Boise, ID) found Alex Mitrovic for the opening goal 16 minutes in but it was all Saints from there. Sebastian Navarro (Yakima, WA) set up Brandon Madsen with a through ball to tie it up in the 24th and scored one himself int he 44th for the lead at the break. He would go on to set up another goal to make it 4-1 in the 65th.  

NCAA DII TOURNAMENT - Bracket

11.11 Colorado Mesa @ MSU Texas 11:00 am
11.11 West Texas @ Colorado School of Mines 1:30

Northwest Conference - Standings 

Saturday - Whitworth 1-3 Whitman :: Jacob Barsher scored the lone goal of the first half to give the hosts the lead. Britton Clifford tied it up in the 51st for the Pirates but the Blues answered quickly with Barsher finding David Chavarin two minutes later. Oscar Harding capped the contest and started the celebration in the 90th as the Blues captured a share of the league championship with the win. It was the first conference title for the program since 1981. Unfortunately, tiebreakers gave Pacific Lutheran the league's automatic berth to the NCAA DIII tournament and Whitman was not awarded an at-large spot.    



Saturday - Puget Sound 1-0 Pacific Lutheran :: Luke Murdock (Boise, ID) scored the lone goal for the Loggers 17 minutes in to spoil the Lutes' attempt to claim the league title outright instead of sharing with Whitman, but PLU still earned the NCAA DIII berth based on tiebreakers.



Saturday - Linfield 2-1 Willamette 

NCAA DIII TOURNAMENT - Bracket

11.10 Pacific Lutheran @ St Thomas 9:00 am
11.10 Washington & Lee @ Johns Hopkins 11:30 am

Cascade Collegiate Conference - TOURNAMENT (Springfield, OR)  

Quarterfinals, Wednesday November 7
8-Oregon Tech v 1-Southern Oregon 5:00
7-Carroll v 2-Corban 5:00
6-Evergreen State v 3-Rocky Mountain 8:00
5-Providence v 4-Eastern Oregon 8:00

Semifinals, Thursday November 8
Lowest Remaining Seed v Highest Remaining Seed 7:00
Two Other Seeds 7:00

Championship, Saturday November 10, 3:00


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