Week of comebacks
Women’s Soccer faces tough competition, volleyball makes big comeback
October 29, 2019
This Week in Falcon Sports
The women’s soccer team faced its toughest test of the conference season this week when they faced Western Washington University. WWU exhibited why they are the conference leaders, as they beat the Falcons 3-0 with goals from Jenna Killman, Darby Doyle and Estera Levinta.
“I thought we played them really tough, they did a better job of finishing their chances than we did,” Head Coach Arby Busey said. “We had some good looks in the game, but we’ll need to [be] more clinical in future games if we are to get a result against them.”
The Falcons bounced back in their next game against Montana State University Billings on a snow-covered field, winning 4-1. Sophomore Mariah Alexander and senior Claire Neder both scored early first-half goals, and junior Sophia Chilczuk scored two goals in the second half.
“She has a skill set that is extremely difficult to defend,” Busey said of Chilczuk. “She is tall, strong, fast and very skillful with the ball at her feet.”
Busey said that Chilczuk’s first goal showed more of her ability to place the ball where she wanted it to go, and her second showcased her ability to power the ball past the goalkeeper.
Julia Keller scored a late goal for Billings, but the deficit was too much to overcome, and the Falcons walked away with the win.
The team’s final three games will be at home, beginning with a matchup against third-place Western Oregon University on Saturday, Nov. 2.
Also this week, volleyball was able to beat two teams who they have previously lost against this season: Northwest Nazarene University and Central Washington University.
The Falcons fought hard to beat NNU in three sets by scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-22. They were led by Senior Gabby Oddo, who had 16 kills.
After losing the first two sets to Central Washington University by scores of 25-20 and 26-24, the Falcons got a win in the third set, and withstood a comeback in the fourth to set up a fifth and final deciding set. In that set, SPU came back from 14-12 to tie it at 14. The two teams would alternate the next four points before the Falcons consecutively won two to win 18-16.
The win was a team effort, and the fourth in a row for the Falcons, led by junior Maddie Batiste’s 18 kills and senior Mallie Donohoe’s 29 digs.
Junior Titus Grant had an incredible week for Seattle Pacific University’s men’s soccer team, totaling two goals and three assists in two games.
Grant scored both of his goals in a 3-1 victory over Saint Martin’s University Thursday, Oct 24. He converted a penalty kick in the 18th minute, and he scored his second 13 minutes later.
The Saints scored a goal in the 39th minute from Sebastian Navarro, but the Falcons scored again in the second half after Grant crossed the ball to Sophomore Mario Vukic. Vukic collected the pass and put the ball into the back of the net to give the Falcons a two-goal-lead and secure the victory.
Saturday was a wild game for the team, and it ended in a heartbreaking loss. They took on Concordia University Portland and went down 2-0 early after goals from Paul Seydel and Kyle Dearborn. In the second half, the Falcons offense came to life when Alden Massey, Alex Mejia and Eduardo Calvo-Salinas all scored goals in a span of fifteen minutes, giving the Falcons a 3-2 lead.
It was looking like a great comeback win, but with 17 seconds left, Concordia’s Brendan Laun knocked a loose ball into the back of the net. The two teams would head to overtime, and after twelve minutes, Concordia’s Nicholas Denley ended the game with a goal and the Falcons lost 4-3.
Next week, the Falcons head on the road to take on the top two teams in the conference, Western Washington University and Simon Fraser University.
