Peak play puts GCU atop WAC for NCAA trip

Saturday, November 4

Riverside, Calif.

1 p.m.

Grand Canyon

14-4-4, 5-1-3

Seattle U

10-9-2, 6-2-1

Grand Canyon

Seattle U

11/4/2023 5:31:00 PM | Women's Soccer, Paul Coro

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lopes take 2nd conference tourney title in 3 years by beating Seattle U 4-2

By: Paul Coro

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The Grand Canyon women's soccer team showed up for a week of WAC Tournament in denial of its seeding.

The months of work and 10 weeks of season told the fourth-seeded Lopes that they had the best team in the conference, and they provided the palpable proof this week. GCU punched its second NCAA tournament ticket in three seasons by bulldozing Seattle U with the first four goals of Saturday's 4-2 WAC Tournament championship win.

The Lopes (14-4-4) entered Riverside as the tourney's No. 4 seed and left with the championship trophy.

"It's a magical ending," said GCU senior forward Gianna Gourley, who lived up to WAC Offensive Player of the Year billing as the WAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player.

"We're going out on my double ring. It's surreal. I'm so proud of the way we came together this season. We were confident and feeding off each other so well. We weren't scared." Women's soccer wins the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-2 win over Seattle U

The Lopes had visualized this moment from the preseason, when junior captain Sidney Roberts gave them "Together we can" wristbands, to the postseason when Roberts handed out ring pops so that everyone could get a taste of earning a championship ring.

GCU looked the part Saturday, especially when the Lopes players huddled behind head coach Chris Cissell's postgame television interview in championship T-shirts and shades with the "WAC Champions" sign. Upon finishing, Cissell turned around and ran toward his jubilant group with slide-tackle form and then cranked his "windmill" arm with the same form that fired up the Lopes in pregame.

The Lopes will learn their NCAA tournament destination and first-round pairing on Monday's selection show at 2 p.m. (Phoenix time).

Women's soccer wins the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-2 win over Seattle U

"It feels amazing because of everything that we've gone through as a soccer family and even just the adversity that I've gone through personally with losing my mom to breast cancer two months ago and having to miss two matches," Cissell said.

"Emotionally, it's been a really tough season. We were kind of like, 'How are we the fourth seed?' Because we know how good we are and how well we can play. Once you get to the tournament, it's survive and advance, and we played some really good soccer in the three games we were here."

The Lopes toppled top seed Utah Valley (the coaches poll's No. 27 nationally) on senior forward Lindsey Prokop's 88th-minute goal Wednesday and regrouped through two off-days to face a Seattle U team that allowed one goal in its last seven regular-season games and was riding a nine-game unbeaten streak.

Women's soccer wins the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-2 win over Seattle U

GCU had the CBU Soccer Complex field tilted in the first half with downhill play that resulted in 13 shots before Seattle U took its first shot in the 30th minute.

The Lopes peppered the Redhawks with scares, whether it was senior forward Bekah Valdez firing over goal or Prokop hitting the post.

Valdez made a more difficult opportunity count in the 21st minute on GCU's 11th shot. With sophomore midfielder AJ Loera feeding her to dribble into the box's left side, Valdez had a narrow angle to split the near post and the goalkeeper from 15 yards out and she converted for her seventh goal and a 1-0 Lopes lead.

But despite a 14-1 advantage in first-half shots, the Lopes took a tenuous 1-0 lead into halftime on Seattle U, which had won six of the past 10 WAC Tournaments.

"We were a little disappointed when we got the box score," Cissell said. "Even though we were playing really well and had control of this, it's scary with how good Seattle is and how good they are on set pieces. But I knew the second goal would come and open things up."

Women's soccer wins the 2023 WAC Tournament with a 4-2 win over Seattle U

That happened in the eighth minute of the second half, when a Loera corner kick went to the far side of the 18-yard box to sophomore midfielder Carly Weller, who sent the ball atop the box for sophomore midfielder Leah Pirro.

Pirro, who scored her first goal of the season in the regular-season finale, put a one-touch chip on the ball that lofted it over the Seattle U goalkeeper on the goal's far side for a 2-0 lead.

"Finally, it went when it counted," Pirro said. "I'll take this feeling over anything in the world. I thought it didn't get better than beating Utah Valley, but today we showed up and we balled out. It's the greatest feeling in the world. We're all bawling our eyes out. I can't put into words how awesome it is."

After Pirro's goal, the championship floodgates opened and GCU was in the net again about eight minutes later because of Pirro's work.

Pirro stole a ball in the backfield and immediately sent a 40-yard pass upfield to Gourley, who was set up with a lethal one-on-one opportunity on the right side for the nation's third-leading goal-scorer. Gourley went wide left of the goalkeeper for her 21st goal of the season, extending her GCU record, and a 3-0 Lopes advantage.

"We were confident in ourselves," said Gourley, the nation's active leader for Division I career goals at 55. "The vibes were so good off of each other. We just knew this was our year. We all had that feeling and all fought for each other. We knew that we'll never have a team as special as this, and that was another thing that fueled our fire."

GCU matched the most goals Seattle U had allowed this season and scored the most goals in a WAC Tournament final since 2014 off another steal in the 67th minute. Prokop swiped this one at midfield and sent it forward to sophomore forward Maddie Brady, whose crossing pass went through the pack in the box and appeared headed out of play.

Instead, Lopes sophomore forward Hannah Smith chased down the ball before it passed the sideline and returned it to the box, where shots by junior midfielder Brenna Alderson and Prokop were knocked down to set up Brady's first collegiate goal on the full-circle rebound.

The Lopes subbed liberally and allowed two goals in the 75th and 77th minutes before securing the win and a celebration, which continued with players climbing the stadium's chain-link fence in tears and smiles to join a strong throng of GCU fans.

The program is in a far different place in the fourth season under Cissell, who took over GCU after a 4-14-1 season and has won the 2021 and 2023 WAC Tournaments.

"Second time in three years solidifies us as a bigtime program," said Cissell, who took an ice-water shower from junior midfielder Ani Jensen's sneak-attack cooler dump over his head. "This will help tremendously with recruiting. Why wouldn't you want to come to GCU, play in Phoenix and play for a championship team?"