Hampered by the pandemic, the NWAC East carried on in a modified format this spring with a team missing each from the men's and women's groups and a schedule that was far from balanced due to travel and cancelations that popped up during the season. In the end, though, it was the Blue Mountain men and the CC Spokane women that were the top sides based on points per game.
On the men's side of things, the unusual season saw a shocking result as Blue Mountain experienced a meteoric rise up the table from finished next to last the year prior. The Timberwolves improved to 6-1-3 this spring to finish atop the East, a big surprise from a team that was 2-5-5 the year prior and a combined 2-21-1 in their first two seasons in the league before that. The team opened with a 2-0 win at Columbia Basin and went unbeaten the rest of the way until suffering a season-ending defeat at home to the Hawks.
For CBC, the defeat to Blue Mountain in the second game of the season was the start of tough run that saw them go 0-3-1 the rest of April. They rebounded with five consecutive wins to close out the season, but the streak and win at Blue Mountain was not enough.
Final Results: Blue Mountain 6-1-3 (2.10 ppg), Columbia Basin 6-3-1 (1.90), Wenatchee Valley 4-4-2 (1.40), North Idaho 3-4-1 (1.25), Spokane 2-3-3 (1.13), Treasure Valley 0-6-0 (0.00), Walla Walla - did not play
On the ladies side the CC Spokane women topped the table based on PPG in the NWAC East with their 5-0-3 record on the campaign. After opening with a 1-1 draw at home against Walla Walla, the Sasquatch went on a five game shutout streak that included a 1-0 win and scoreless draw against Columbia Basin, which finished second in PPG, before finishing with a pair of wins against Yakima Valley.
CBC's 1-0 loss at Spokane was their second of the early part of the season as they suffered a surprising 4-3 defeat at home to Blue Mountain earlier. They rebounded, however, with a 5-0-3 unbeaten run to close out the season and make a run at finishing first.
After their Spokane tie Walla Walla would experience an up-and-down campaign, never stringing more than one win together as they played to three more ties and a pair of losses throughout the rest of the campaign, keeping them arms length from Spokane and CBC but well in front of the rest of the pack.
Final Results: Spokane 5-0-3 (2.25), Columbia Basin 7-2-3 (2.00), Walla Walla 6-2-4 (1.83), Blue Mountain 4-5-0 (1.33), Yakima Valley 2-5-4 (0.91), North Idaho 1-4-3 (0.75), Treasure Valley 0-7-1 (0.13), Wenatchee Valley - did not play
Leading Scorers / Keepers from Top 3 Teams
WOMEN
Spokane
Lizzy Gonzalez (So) - 8 pts (4g)
Frankie Schade (So) - 5 (2, 1)
Kiah Gary (Fr) - 0.44 GAA (2ga, 405m)* played every minute
Columbia Basin
Kylee Alvarez (Fr) - 11 pts (5g, 1a)
Andrea Martell (Fr) - 10 (3, 4)
Melissa Aris (So) - 0.98 GAA (7ga, 645m)
Walla Walla
Emmy Williams (So) - 15 pts (7g, 1a)
Halle Romero (Fr) - 9 (4, 1)
Josey Gunter (So) - 0.67 GAA (6ga, 810m)
MEN
Blue Mountain
Sergio Varela (Fr) - 8 pts (4g)
3 players with 4 pts
Juan Muniz (So) - 0.33 GAA (2ga, 550m)
Columbia Basin
Diego Gomez (So) - 16 pts (7g, 2a)
Mario Negrete (So) - 12 pts (5g, 2a)
Danny Puga (So) - 1.02 GAA (8ga, 709m)* played every minute
Wenatchee Valley
Carlos Solis-Viramontes (Fr) - 15 pts (7g, 1a)
Jose Camarillo (So) - 8 pts (2g, 4a)
Ty Miller (Fr) - 1.33 GAA (12ga, 810m)
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