With everything else settled, the focus Wednesday was on a three-way race for the final women's berth into the NWAC postseason. The Sasquatch went into the day three points ahead of Yakima Valley and North Idaho. Kicking off an hour earlier, the Yaks put pressure on early with a two-goal lead early in their contest as Spokane and NIC prepared to square off. The Cardinals scored first in the battle of the rivals to make a three-way tie possible, but Spokane pulled even for their needed point and eventually snagged the win and berth.
W - Blue Mountain 0-3 Treasure Valley... After a scoreless first half Hannah Simpson (Star, ID) finally broke through for the Chukars, scoring back-to-back in the 54th and 55th. Maria Patlan (Hailey, ID) capped the game in the 78th. Simpson started the game in goal with two saves with Hilda Campos-Briceno (Caldwell, ID) finishing it out with three stops.
W - Walla Walla 1-1 Columbia Basin... In a meaningless showdown of the top two Danielle Chang opened the scoring in the fourth minute via Bailey Whitney (Warden, WA) for the Hawks. Aubree Skone (Warden, WA) pulled the Warriors even in the 23rd and the two went the rest of the way deadlocked with Josey Gunter(MaCammon, ID) making four stops for Walla Walla and RiaJo Schwartz (Wapato, WA) two at the other end.
W - Yakima Valley 3-1 Wenatchee Valley... Needing a win Natalie Wright scored in the 22nd minute courtesy of Ciel McDonald and found Corynn Vigil (Spokane, WA) six minutes later. Daisy Kikendall made it a three goal advantage in the 71st. Eliza Christensen nearly had a shutout with nine stops, but Tanya Valdenea (Mattawa, WA) spoiled things in the 85th.
W - North Idaho 1-2 Spokane... Despite the Sasquatch having the better of play in the early going, the Cardinals broke through first when Autumn Stewart (Spokane, WA) found Maya Lewis in the 20th minute. Defender Abby McConnell (Spokane, WA), though, would pull the Bigfoot even in the 32nd on a corner from Morgan Skone (Moses Lake, WA) to pull the Bigfoot even. In a scenario in which they only needed a draw to clinch the berth the Sasquatch were prepared to kill the game in final minutes when a touch on a breakaway took Lizzy Gonzalez (Caldwell, ID) toward goal in the 88th. She went with it and put it away to fully lock things up for Spokane.
Women's NWAC East Table
*1 - Walla Walla 12-0-2... 38 points
*2 - Columbia Basin 9-1-4... 31
*3 - Spokane 9-5-0... 27
Yakima Valley 7-4-3... 24
North Idaho 6-5-3... 21
Treasure Valley 5-9-0... 15
Wenatchee Valley 1-12-1... 4
Blue Mountain 0-13-1... 1
* Clinched playoff berth (3 total)
COMING UP - WOMEN'S PLAYOFFS...
FIRST ROUND - Wednesday, November 6
W3 Tacoma @ E2 Columbia Basin 1:00
E3 Spokane @ W2 Bellevue 1:00
S3 Lane @ N2 Whatcom 5:00
N3 Skagit Valley @ S2 Portland 6:00
QUARTERFINALS - Saturday, November 9
N3/S2 Winner @ E1 Walla Walla TBD
E3/W2 Winner @ N1 Peninsula TBD
E2/W3 Winner @ S1 Clark 12:00
S3/N2 Winner @ W1 Highline 12:00
M - Blue Mountain 3-3 Treasure Valley... Oscar Ramirez (Caldwell, ID) scored in the 18th and Joseph Donovan (Boise, ID) two minutes later to give the Chukars a two goal lead that held until Blue Mountain went on a spree in the second half. The Timberwolves ran off three consecutive in 13 minutes with Andres Acuna finding Edgar Lopez Ibarra in the 47th and scoring himself in the 55th via Jonathan Reynoso. Five minutes later Reynoso connected with Melchor Olivera for the lead. With eight minutes left Donovan scored his second to tie it up, but the Chukars were unable to find another for their first win of the season.
M - Walla Walla 0-2 Columbia Basin... Jhonny Nyabenda (Pasco, WA) scored twice to propel the Hawks to the victory, tallying via Francisco Lagunas (Sunnyside, WA) in the 17th and Pablo Gil (Connell, WA) in the 35th. Danny Puga (Pasco, WA) made five saves for the shutout.
M - North Idaho 1-1 Spokane... Brennan Murphy (Spokane, WA) scored on a fantastic volley in the 37th minute to put the Sasquatch in front, but Noah Dreves (Spokane, WA) tallied in the 59th for the Cardinals to leave the rivals in a stalemate for the finale.
Around the NWAC: Emmanuel Lopez (Wenatchee, WA) set up the opener and Theodore Baiye (Clarkston, WA) scored the second for Peninsula in a 2-0 win at Everett... Diego Gomez (Sunnyside, WA) scored the opening two goals for Skagit Valley and Edgar Ramirez (Yakima, WA) netted the game-winner in 3-2 victory at Edmonds.
Men's NWAC East Table
*1 - Columbia Basin 10-1-1... 31 points
*2 - Spokane 6-2-4... 22
*3 - Wenatchee Valley 6-3-3... 21
Walla Walla 3-3-6... 15
North Idaho 3-6-3... 12
Blue Mountain 1-5-5... 8
Treasure Valley 0-10-2... 2
* Clinched playoff berth (3 total)
COMING UP - MEN'S PLAYOFFS...
FIRST ROUND - Wednesday, November 6
E3 Wenatchee Valley @ W2 Highline 2:00
W3 Pierce @ E2 Spokane 3:00
N3 Everett @ S2 Lane 6:30
S3 Southwestern Oregon @ N2 Whatcom 7:15
QUARTERFINALS - Saturday, November 9
N3/S2 Winner @ E1 Columbia Basin
E2/W3 Winner @ S1 Chemeketa
E3/W2 Winner @ N1 Peninsula
N2/S3 Winner @ W1 Tacoma
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