Western women’s soccer ousted Concordia University, 1-0, in double-overtime, to claim its third-straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship on Saturday, Nov. 4, in Portland, Oregon.
What makes the win even sweeter is the Vikings lost their only game of the season, and their GNAC record 39-game win streak, at the hands of Concordia only seven days prior to beating them for the championship. The Vikings’ championship win broke a Concordia 14-game win streak.
Sophomore forward Emily Bunnell said Concordia came into the match riding a hot streak, and they’ve been the best competition the Vikings have faced all year.
“It was super rewarding,” Bunnell said. “Going into double-overtime is one of those situations where we have to stay composed, and we pulled it off.”
Sophomore defender Emily Nelson agreed.
“We really wanted to prove ourselves and show that the score last time didn’t really tell the whole story,” Nelson said. “It’s great to get a little bit of revenge.”
Bunnell said the Vikings need to keep reminding themselves that their style of play is what makes them successful.
“When we find ourselves playing a different game than we usually do, we have to take a step back and keep our composure and keep our energy up,” Bunnell said.
Nelson said the Viking’s strategy will be to continue to outwork opponents. She believes this is what makes the team so hard to beat.
“What we really do well is we switch it around the back, make them run, make them get tired and then we can really dominate the game,” Nelson said.
The Vikings secured a first-round bye and a No. 2 seed in the West Region of the NCAA II championships. They will host the first two rounds, and will face the winner of No. 6 seed California Baptist and No. 3 Sonoma State.
The winner moves on to play Western in the second round at 1 p.m., on Saturday, Nov. 11.
