'Lopes Beat Chaminade, Will Learn Postseason Fate on Monday

Friday, November 5

GCU

8:00 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Chaminade University

Kayla Poe

'Lopes Beat Chaminade, Will Learn Postseason Fate on Monday

11/5/2010 11:29:05 PM | Women's Soccer

By: Joel Horn

The Grand Canyon University women’s soccer team, ranked No. 9 in the West Region in the official NCAA Division II poll and No. 8 in the region in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America vote, defeated Chaminade University 1-0 in a Pacific West Conference game tonight at the GCU Soccer Field.

The Antelopes improved to 11-5-1 overall, 9-4-1 in the PacWest. The Silverswords fell to 2-14-0, 2-12-0.

By winning tonight’s game. GCU ensured itself of a second-place finish in the conference this season. The ‘Lopes have 28 points and the two teams that are tied for third place, Dixie State and Hawai’I Pacific, have 24. Those teams have only one game remaining, however (the Red Storm at Academy of Art and the Sea Warriors hosting Hawaii Hilo, both tomorrow), so the most points either of them can have is 27.

GCU still has a chance to qualify for the NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Championship for the first time in the women’s soccer program’s 15-year history. Championship selections will be announced at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday via a webcast selection show on NCAA.com.

The NCAA poll determines qualification for Division II institutions to the national championship tournament. The top six teams in each of the eight regions are awarded berths in the postseason..

Five of the schools in the NCAA poll are in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The CCAA's regular season ended on Sunday, but the CCAA Soccer Tournament is being held this weekend in Turlock, Calif., so all but one of those schools will have additional losses on their records by Monday.

The three ranked teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, Seattle Pacific (14-1-2 overall, 11-1-1 in the GNAC), Montana State Billings (11-5-1, 8-5-0) and Western Washington (10-4-3, 7-4-2), have games tomorrow. Central Washington (4-11-2, 4-8-1) is at Seattle Pacific; Northwest Nazarene (5-12-0, 3-10-0) is at Montana State Billings; and Simon Fraser (9-4-2, 8-3-2), which actually is ahead of both Montana State Billings and Western Washington in the GNAC standings, is at Western Washington.

The ‘Lopes definitely are in the mix, but they won’t know their fate until late Monday afternoon.

Tonight’s victory helped their chances.

Freshman defender/midfielder Cierra Valdez (Phoenix, AZ/Westview) scored the first goal and the first points of her GCU career in the 39^th minute off of an assist from senior forward Kayla Poe (Mesa, AZ/Dobson, Chandler-Gilbert CC).

It was all the ‘Lopes needed.

They had a mind-boggling 25-2 edge in shots in the game, as well as an 11-1 advantage in corner kicks.

Eight fouls were called, seven of them on GCU. One yellow card was issued, to senior defender/midfielder Janelle Salazar (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda) in the 64^th minute.

Junior Stephanie Phillips (Tempe, AZ/Corona del Sol, Washington State University) and freshman Cat Lena (Tucson, AZ/Salpointe Catholic) each played 45 minutes in goal and shared a shutout for the second consecutive game.

Since tonight was the last regular-season game this season, it was Senior Night and all of the team’s seniors were honored at halftime for their contributions to the program and the university in general.

Defender/midfielder Marissa Booth (Ogden, UT/Ogden, Iowa Western CC) transferred to GCU from Iowa Western Community College in 2009. She started 16 of 20 games played last season and had a .600 shooting percentage. She has started 14 of 16 games played this year and has a .1000 shot-on-goal percentage.

Poe transferred from Chandler-Gilbert Community College. She started 18 of 20 games played last season, scoring seven goals – including five game-winners -- and having one assist for 15 points. She had a .548 shooting percentage and was named Second-Team All-PacWest in 2009. She has played in 13 games this year and has three goals, one assist and a .550 shooting percentage.

Defender/midfielder Maritza Quinlan (Prescott Valley, AZ/Bradshaw Mountain) has played for GCU since 2007. She started all 20 games played in 2007, and had one goal and a .500 shooting percentage. She scored her first career goal in a win over Chaminade on Sept. 20, 2007. In 2008, she started all 14 games played and was named to the PacWest Weekly Top 10 Honor Roll on Sept. 9. She is a consistent defender who has proven to be durable in her career.

Salazar also has played for GCU since 2007. She played in all 20 games as a freshman that year and started 13 of 14 games played in 2008. She recorded her first point with an assist in a home win vs. Chaminade on Sept. 25, 2008. Last season, she started 18 of 19 games played and helped lead a defense that allowed the third-fewest goals in the PacWest. She has been a team captain the past two years.

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