No. 5 Falcons Survive Wolves, 2-1

The Wolves will wrap a three-match home stand with another GNAC encounter Sunday, hosting Western Washington at 1:00 PM.

Photo courtesy: WOU

MONMOUTH - No. 5 nationally ranked Seattle Pacific survived an early scare, rallying in the second half for a 2-1 victory over Western Oregon in a women’s soccer match on a breezy Wednesday afternoon at the WOU Soccer Field.

The contest was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both schools.

The Falcons, ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA/adidas Far West Region poll, improved to 6-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

WOU, ranked tenth in the region, dropped to 4-2-1 on the year and 0-1 in the GNAC.

Western Oregon stunned the defending GNAC champs with a goal just moments into the contest.

Freshman Sarah Skotte tapped in a shot from about 10 yards off, taking a nice pass from Liorah Riutzel, just 2:27 into the game.

Most of the rest of the first half was played at the Falcon end of the field, as the 2005 national runner-ups fired 15 shots in the first 45 minutes to Western Oregon’s three.

But WOU’s Ally Meyer had eight saves before the break, helping to give the Wolves a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Seattle Pacific, who carried a 44-match GNAC win streak into the match, didn’t waste much time in the second half before getting on the board.

Kara Hamby slipped a header past Meyer eight minutes after intermission to tie the contest at 1-1.

Shannon Oakes added the winning score with just under 20 minutes to play, taking a pass from Jessica Gerstmann.

Oakes also had an assist on the Hamby goal.

Meyer finished with ten saves for the Wolves, who were outshot on the day, 22-7.

Scoring Summary (Seattle Pacific 2, Western Oregon 1)

WOU—Sarah Skotte (Liorah Riutzel) 2:27

SPU—Kara Hamby (Shannon Oakes) 53:03

SPU—Shannon Oakes (Jessica Gerstmann) 69:47

Shots: WOU 7, SPU 22 (on goal: WOU 2, SPU 10)

Corner Kicks: WOU 0, SPU 13

Goalie Saves: WOU 10 (Ally Meyer 10), SPU 2 (Katie Ruggles 2)

Fouls: WOU 12, SPU 6

Yellow cards: None

Attendance: 120

Records: Western Oregon 4-2-1 (0-1 GNAC), Seattle Pacific 6-1 (1-0 GNAC)

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