Women’s Soccer dominates, nets Neder player of the week
Rowing wins by open water, Meyer takes home heptathlon victory
April 20, 2021
Women’s Soccer:
Seattle Pacific University’s women’s soccer team continued their winning streak after facing off against Western Oregon on Friday, April 16th. The Falcons played well on both sides of the field, scoring five goals on offense and shutting Western Oregon down defensively.
SPU senior midfielder Claire Neder had a big game, scoring the teams first two goals of the game 90 seconds apart from each other. This was the first time Neder has scored two goals in one game in her career.
SPU racked up four total points in the first half of the game with a goal from SPU senior forward Sophia Chilczuk and junior midfielder Makena Rietz.
Chilczuk added another goal in the second half, making the final score 5-0.
The SPU women’s soccer team gained a second win against Western Oregon, keeping their winning streak going for one more game. The Falcons once again had quite a strong showing both defensively and offensively, scoring four goals and halting Western Oregon from scoring throughout the game. Two minutes after kickoff, SPU senior forward Sophia Chilczuk scored the first goal of the game for the Falcons off an assist from freshman forward Sophie Beadle.
The Falcons continued to play effectively during the first period, preventing Western Oregon from gaining any kind of momentum while also scoring two additional goals. SPU junior midfielder Makena Rietz scored the first goal off another assist by Beadle.
The last goal of the half was scored by SPU senior midfielder Claire Neder which helped set up the Falcons with a lead going into the second half.
In the second half of the match, the only goal scored belonged solely to the Falcons. Claire Neder scored her second goal of the game with an assist from Chilczuk to win the match. Neder was named GNAC women’s soccer player of the week for her four goals.
The Falcons have still not given up a single goal this season and continue to shut down their opponents, one after the other.
Women’s Rowing:
SPU swept both their races this week, defeating the Western Washington Vikings at Lake Samish in Bellingham.
In the four-oared race, they defeated the Vikings by 27 seconds, finishing with a time of 7:48.20 seconds, and earning them the GNAC crew of the week.
In the eights, Western Washington got off to a quick start, but the Falcons stayed with them and ultimately won by nearly three boat lengths (11 seconds) and finished with a time of 6:59.80 seconds. This win gives the Falcons the second seed in the West Region.
“Saturday’s regatta was a test of our ability to replicate the performances from March 27th when we beat Western in the Canal. This time, the Vikings had the home course advantage. It was important that we weren’t complacent given the margins from earlier in the season and that we took care of business. The team did just that and was able to practice the skills of travel, which we will need for GNACs,” said SPU rowing coach Caitlin McClain about the regatta.
“It feels great to be ranked number two to the reigning NCAA champions, University of Central Oklahoma, especially given the more stringent restrictions our state has faced. We are within striking distance of number one and we are focusing on making improvements each day as we prepare to see them again at the conference championships May 15.”
Track:
SPU track and field traveled to Ellensburg to compete in the CWU Wildcat Invitational. SPU sophomore David Njeri finished second in the men’s long jump, with a mark of 6.66 meters and won the men’s triple jump with a distance of 14.53 meters. In the 1500-meter run, SPU sophomore Jared Putney finished third, with a time of 4:02.
The winning this weekend was not exclusive to the men as the women racked up the top spots in six different events and SPU senior Renick Meyer took home the overall women’s heptathlon championship with 4,629 points over the two days, earning her the GNAC women’s field athlete of the week.
In the women’s 100m run the Falcon’s took the top three positions with SPU sophomore Jenna Bouyer taking first place at a time of 11.92, SPU senior Julia Stepper placed second with a time of 11.92, and SPU senior Grace Bley took third with a time of 12.05.
In the women’s 200m run, Bley beat out her opponents and fellow teammates with a time of 24.48. Bouyer and Stepper respectively placed in third and fourth place with times of 24.79 and 24.96.
In the women’s 800m run, SPU freshman Annika Esvelt took third place. In the women’s 3000-meter run, SPU senior Kate Lilly won with a time of nine minutes and forty eight seconds. In the women’s pole vault, SPU senior Scout Cai placed first at a height of 3.95 meters. Cai also landed in fifth place during the women’s javelin with a thrown distance of 38.79 meters.
