The Western women’s soccer team retained their spot at the top of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference by beating the Central Washington University Wildcats 2-0 on Wednesday afternoon at CWU Soccer Field.
Western junior forwards Emily Frankland and Molly Shannon scored goals in the second half for the Vikings, who improved their GNAC record to 5-1-1 and their overall record to 8-4-2.
Western senior goalkeeper Kylie Broadbent made three saves and recorded her sixth shutout of the season.
The Vikings have won two games in a row, both shutouts, on the road. They defeated Grand Canyon University 2-0 in Phoenix, Ariz., on Monday before flying back to Washington to blank the Wildcats.
“It was a great victory for us,” Western head coach Travis Connell said. “Central is one of our most challenging opponents every year. Plus it’s a rivalry. You add in that, and travel, and losing two key players in the first minutes of the game. We were able to show a lot of character and come back and get the victory.”
The Vikings lost two midfielders to injury in the opening minutes of Wednesday’s match.
Western senior Stephanie Janigo suffered a head injury in the first minute of the match, and Western senior Kasey Hostetler had to come off the field due to an ankle injury in the 10th minute.
“We had to shuffle some players that weren’t used to playing in there, and they stepped up big,” Connell said.
Western’s first goal came in the 53rd minute. Western senior midfielder Kelly Irving took a corner kick and sent it to Western senior forward Lucy Miller, who passed it in to the far post, where Shannon was waiting to touch the ball into the net.
The second goal of the game came in the 69th minute. Western sophomore forward Justina MacDowell played a ball from midfield to Frankland, who collected it and shot it into the back of the net from 12 yards out. It was Frankland’s sixth goal of the year.
Western took 15 shots in the game, managing to put 10 of them on target.
“I think we really should have scored more,” Connell said. “Both teams had chances, and Kylie made some big saves for us.”
The Vikings are the current GNAC leaders, but they have two teams close behind them.
Both Montana State University Billings and Seattle Pacific University, the fourth-ranked team in the country in NCAA Division II, are serious competitors for the conference championship.
Seattle Pacific is just one point behind Western, with a GNAC record of 5-1-1. MSU Billings has a GNAC record of 4-2-0.
Connell said the Vikings have as good a chance as anyone of winning the conference.
“We have to do a good job against the teams that we should beat in our conference,” Connell said. “We’ve been doing a good job of that. But Billings has a good record and that’s going to be a challenge. We still have to play them twice.“
Connell also said it would take a fantastic game to beat Seattle Pacific when the teams play on Oct. 28 in Seattle.
In the previous matchup between the two teams, Western won 3-2 in Bellingham, giving Seattle Pacific their only defeat of the season.
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