Capturing victories by any means possible
Women’s Soccer dominates, volleyball secures two match wins
April 6, 2021
Women’s Soccer:
So far on the season, the Seattle Pacific University women’s soccer team has played and won two games, both by the score of 4-0, the latest win coming at the expense of Saint Martin’s University. In the game, two goals came from an experienced senior, and two other players scored the first goal of their careers.
Senior Sophia Chilczuk got the first goal for the Falcons in the 24th minute, as Chilczuk tapped a pass to junior Makena Reitz, and Reitz gave the ball back to Chilczuk, who ran past the defense and finessed the ball into the upper right corner.
Freshman Lauren Forster got the scoring going in the second half, as she ran down a loose ball and pushed it past a diving goalkeeper into the net in the 52nd minute.
Chilczuk doubled her tally eight minutes later, and freshman Mia Mahaffey joined the scoresheet in the 79th minute.
The Women’s soccer team will be back in action against Pacific Lutheran University on Saturday.
Women’s Volleyball:
On Saturday, Falcon volleyball played two matches against Central Washington University, and though it got a little dicey at times, the Falcons came away with the win in both.
According to head coach Abbie Wright, the team, though a mix of ages, have been working hard in the locker room and taking the time to make adjustments and consistently improve their play.
“Those kinds of things don’t get ignored and definitely come into play later in tight moments. This team is really trying to pour into their preparation so they can have confidence as a group later and that makes me really proud,” Wright said.
After losing the first set of the first match 25-21, the Falcons stormed out to a 8-2 lead in the second set, letting Wildcat returns fall harmlessly out of play. The Wildcats fought back, but two kills from redshirt freshman Lindsay Rosenthal pushed the lead to 17-12, and the Falcons won the set 25-13.
The domination continued in the third set, as the Falcons jumped out to a 13-3 lead and won the set easily, 25-12. The Falcons faced a 14-10 deficit in the fourth set, but rallied back to win 25-22.
In this match, senior Maddie Batiste had 16 kills and 14 digs, while sophomore Lindsey Lambert had 34 assists and 12 digs.
Most games are set up in a doubleheader fashion this season to limit travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wright explained that this leaves little time to prepare, but also little time to think about mistakes.
An hour later, the teams squared off again, and it was a battle to the finish.
The first set was tied up 23-23, when freshman Hannah Hair got a kill. Hair and Batiste blocked the ball on the following play, giving the Falcons the 25-23 set win.
“I think oftentimes we do the hard things well,” Wright said. We have traditionally been one of the best blocking teams in the conference, which in actuality is a really hard skill.”
The two teams traded 25-21 wins over the next two sets, and the Falcons almost completed a crazy comeback in the fourth set, but fell just short, 27-25.
This would set up a final and decisive fifth set. The Falcons opened up a 7-2 lead, and never looked back, winning 15-6. Three kills from Rosenthal propelled the Falcons at the end.
Batiste again led the Falcons with 15 kills and 15 digs. Hair had 14 kills, and Rosenthal had 6 kills and 15 digs.
Women’s and Men’s Track:
April 3 was also a busy day for the Men’s and Women’s Track teams, as the Falcons went to Bellingham to compete in the Western Washington University team invitational.
Sophomore Jenna Bouyer and senior Grace Bley had great performances, as they finished first and second in the Women’s 400 meter race. Bley finished in second in the 200, followed by Bouyer in third and junior Julia Stepper in fourth. Stepper came in second in the 100, and freshman Aniya Green finished in fourth.
Senior Scout Cai and junior Renick Meyer also had a busy day. Cai won the pole vault competition, and finished third in the shot put. Meyer finished in second in the long jump, fourth in the high jump, and won the 100 meter hurdles race. Freshman Lizzy Daugherty finished in fifth in the pole vault, and junior Kellie May finished in fifth in the shot put.
The Falcons had fewer competitors on the men’s side, but still turned in good results. Freshmen Julius Shepherd and Evan Carpenter finished in fourth and fifth in the 200 meter race, and fifth and sixth in the 400 meter race. Junior Elius Graff finished in seventh in the 1500 meter run, setting a personal best time, his first under the four minute mark.
