Seattle Pacific University’s women’s soccer played Western Oregon University to a scoreless tie on Thursday, Oct. 24, at Interbay Stadium. Despite a hard-fought battle, neither team could gain the winning edge.
Western Oregon struggled to break SPU’s defense, reaching halftime with no shots taken. Seattle Pacific played aggressively the whole game and took 12 shots on goal, 23 in total, but were fended off by WOU’s goalkeeper.
Junior goalkeeper Mercedes Cullen faced four shots from WOU, saving the only shot on goal.
The following Saturday, Oct. 26, was the team’s Senior Night celebration at Interbay Stadium for graduating seniors Kathryn Nyone, Landrey McCann and Lauren Snedeker.
Nyone has played 71 games, starting in 51, and has scored two goals in her SPU career. She has been named a Great Northwest Athletic Conference Honorable Mention twice, has earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-District, and is a three-time GNAC All-Academic Honoree. Nyone played further up the field than usual in the match against SMU, running the ball alongside Snedeker and the team’s forwards.
McCann has started in 33 of her 51 games with SPU, playing a key role in the Falcon’s defense for four seasons and being named a GNAC All-Academic Honoree twice.
Snedeker started in 50 out of 65 games, scoring four goals in her time with SPU. She boasts the most accolades of the seniors making the First and Second All-GNAC Teams, the United Soccer Coaches’ Second Team All-Region, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics’ First Team Division II All-West Region, receiving CSC Academic All-District twice and is a three-time GNAC All-Academic Honoree.
After the celebration, the Falcons lost 2-1 to Saint Martin’s University. Seattle Pacific began the match against Saint Martin’s with great momentum, nearly scoring two goals within the first 20 minutes. The score was 0-0 at halftime, mimicking SPU’s previous encounter with SMU on Oct. 10.
It was a defensive deadlock on both sides until Saint Martin’s scored in the 55th minute. Sophomore midfielder Andie Buckley put the Falcons on the board with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. The match nearly ended in a tie before Saint Martin’s scored a second goal in the final minute.
Head Coach Arby Busey hoped for a win to send off the seniors on one of their final home games.
“We’re on our senior day, and emotions can be unbalanced. I’m really proud of the way the girls came back and got that goal to tie it up,” Busey said. “[It was] unfortunate to concede one at the end, but it’s an unbelievable group of women that we coach. [Our] amazing three seniors have given so much to the program. My heart breaks for them.”
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, Busey aspires to see his players off on greater terms.
“There’s still a lot to play for us. We’ve been really good in possession and getting the ball to the box,” Busey said. “We haven’t been scoring consistently enough recently, so we’ll go back to work and find ways to get the ball in and hope to finish these last four games with more goals and more wins.”
Seattle Pacific women’s soccer is second in the GNAC standing with a 5-1-4 conference record and a 7-2-5 record overall. Women’s soccer challenges Central Washington University next on Thursday, Oct. 31, in Ellensburg, Washington, at 7 p.m.
