Sunday, October 28, 2012

College Recap - GNAC: Simon Fraser win men's title; MSU-Billings women make playoffs

With Western Washington and Seattle Pacific running away with the top two seeds in the women's table, the weekend was primarily about determining the final two participants. Saint Martin’s draw on Friday put MSU-Billings into the playoffs and their draw Saturday allowed Western Oregon to claim the final spot. The two leaders squared off in a potential championship match preview and nearly played to a stalemate. With a commanding advantage in the table, Simon Fraser locked up a third consecutive men's conference title with a 7-1 drubbing of Saint Martin’s Thursday and a loss later that evening by Seattle Pacific, sending the Canadians to the NCAA tournament in their first year of eligibility after two years of provisional status.

GREAT NORTHWEST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE – DII – WOMEN

Thursday
Central Washington 0 :: 1 Western Washington
The Vikings dominated thoroughly with Jamie Arthurs (Richland, WA) needing to make just one save as they outshot the visiting Wildcats 18-2 on the day, but victory would not come until the 71st minute when a mistake allowed Catherine Miles to steal the back pass to the keeper and finish, knocking CWU out of playoff contention. – MORE 

MSU-Billings 1 :: 2 Western Oregon
Facing a team in a tight race for the fourth playoff berth, the Yellowjackets fell behind on two goals from Lindsay Bauman in the first half with the lone strike in their effort to rally coming from the penalty spot via Heidi Greenback.  – MORE 

Seattle Pacific 4 :: 0 Simon Fraser
Riley Dopps gave the Falcons a two goal lead in the first 23 minutes and Megan Lindsay (Spokane, WA) pushed the lead to three in the 40th. Kaylie Winston (Pasco, WA) made it four just over a minute later.

Friday
Northwest Nazarene 0 :: 0 Saint Martin’s
Tanya Zickefoose’s four saves on the road put an end to the postseason hopes for Saint Martin’s, eliminating the hosts from playoff contention. – MORE 

Saturday
Northwest Nazarene 3 :: 2 Western Oregon
After falling behind 13 minutes in, the Crusaders tallied three consecutive goals courtesy of Sarah Staropoli. The striker struck the equalizer in the 25th and then set up the go-ahead and winning goals in a two-minute span, finding Julianne Steele in the 77th and Celina Mortensen in the 79th. – MORE 

Simon Fraser 0 :: 5 Central Washington
The Wildcats finished with a flurry courtesy, in part, to Hadli Farrand’s two goals and an assist. – MORE 

MSU-Billings 1 :: 1 Saint Martin’s
Jaucelyn Richter (Billings, MT) stole a pass in the eighth minute to give the Yellowjackets the lead on the road, but the hosts did not give up despite being eliminated from postseason contention the day before, finding an equalizer in the fifth minute of the second half via Caley Wiseman. – MORE 

Seattle Pacific 1 :: 0 Western Washington
The Falcons sent a message to the conference’s top seed, completing a season sweep of the Vikings. The hosts outshot SPU 15-9 but Heather Young’s strike in the 20th minute, assisted by Riley Dopps, proved to be the difference against record-setting Jamie Arthurs (Richland, WA).

Standings [+]  

Coming Up This Week

GNAC Women’s Championship (Tukwila, WA)   - INFO

Thursday – Semifinals
Western Oregon vs Western Washington – 5:00
MSU-Billings vs Seattle Pacific – 8:00
Saturday
Final – 2:00

GREAT NORTHWEST CONFERENCE – DII – MEN

Wednesday
South Dakota Mines 1 :: 2 MSU-Billings (non-conf)
Thomas Chameraud found Chad Ward for the opening goal 16 minutes into the contest and scored the game-winning strike with five minutes left. – MORE   

Thursday
Simon Fraser 7 :: 1 Saint Martin’s
Western Washington 3 :: 1 Seattle Pacific


Saturday
U-Mary 1 :: 5 MSU-Billings
Chameraud continued on his hot streak by playing a role in all five goals on the day, making it seven for seven on the week. He found Legofi Crawford in the third minute. He connected with Kyle Emerick (Billings, MT) in the 44th and 57th before Emerick returned the favor for Chameraud’s lone goal of the day on the hour mark. He capped the day by setting up Emerick for the hat-trick in the 90th. – MORE    

Sioux Falls 1 :: 1 Northwest Nazarene
The Crusaders found themselves trailing after three minutes, but Stephen Marshall converted from the spot in the 45th to even things up. NNU outshot the visitors 9-3 the rest of the way, but couldn’t find the winner. – MORE 

Simon Fraser 1 :: OT :: 0 Seattle Pacific

Sunday
Western Washington 5 :: 1 Saint Martin’s

Standings [+]  

Coming Up This Week

Monday
U-Mary @ Northwest Nazarene
Thursday
Sioux Falls @ MSU-Billings – 3:30
Saturday
Northwest Nazarene @ MSU-Billings – 1:00
Saint Martin’s @ Seattle Pacific – 7:00
Sunday
Sioux Falls @ U-Mary – 1:00
Western Washington @ Simon Fraser – 3:00

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