Past-era broadcaster Howard Cosell has been credited with saying “Sports is the toy department of human life.”
And wow, how many of us need that toy department right now — for diversion, inspiration, appreciation, a refuge? Maybe it’s the kind of gathering place we can reliably go, in these gloomy days, to watch and witness and feel a slice of joy with others.
So maybe head up the hill this week to watch what’s happening on Western’s playing fields and courts. Western’s teams are among the elite in the NCAA Division II for delivering success on a remarkably regular basis. Plus, there’s free parking. (See below.)
In this past week alone (up to matches of Thursday, Nov. 7), here’s what was good:
- Luis Hakamada’s dramatic diving header in the 76th minute, winning the game for the men’s soccer team against Saint Martin’s Saturday, Nov. 2 .
- Coach Greg Brisbon winning career 100 and 101st games as his team went on a six-game win streak to vault into second place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
- The women’s soccer team decisively clinching the regular-season conference title (10-0-2) with a victory over Saint Martin’s on Nov. 2, before even playing the last two games on the schedule. The Vikings go into the GNAC Tournament in Seattle as the top seed starting Thursday, Nov. 14 at Interbay Stadium in Seattle.
- The volleyball team going 2-0 to move to 8-4 in the conference and even its record at 9-9 overall, en route to keeping a promise made at season’s start to make last year’s losing record — a first for 25-year coach Diane Flick-Williams — an aberration.
- Basketball openers for men’s and women’s basketball start Friday, Nov. 8, with the men at home and the women, conference preseason favorites, on the road (see Best Bets below).
And then there’s the cross country team, which heads to Saturday’s NCAA Division II West Regional championships in Billings, Montana, with the men’s and women’s teams each holding No. 2 seeds in the region. The goal — top three teams in each women’s and men’s team automatically qualify for the NCAA Division II Championships, in addition to at-large berths.
Both teams are coming off sweeps of Great Northwest Athletic Conference titles where Viking runner Jeret Gillingham won the men’s race and the women, led by Ashley Reeck in sixth, raced in a tight-knit group to easily win the team title. Earlier, the men also performed strongly at the Lewis Invitational in Illinois, finishing second in a top national field with Kevin McDermott and Ryan Clough leading the Vikings.
“Regionals is really where things matter most, and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done earlier in the year, you still have to show up,” assistant coach T.J. Garlatz said. “What gives us confidence is that we do have pretty good depth on the team.”
Both Western teams are ranked behind No. 1 Chico State, which has gotten deeper since October’s Bill Roe Classic, when Western’s women’s team won.
“I would have to think that both (men’s and women’s) teams, if they’re in the top five, stand a pretty good chance” to qualify, with the teams duking it out with Chico State as a subplot, Garlatz said. “Chico has kind of improved their depth as the season’s gone on … It’s going to be a fun little go.”
BY THE NUMBERS
10 – Trips to NCAA Division II National Championships by the women’s cross country team, trying to make it 11 by qualifying in the top three at Saturday’s NCAA West Regional Championships. The Vikings are the defending regional champions for the first time in team history
13 – Times the Viking men have qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships in cross country
1 – Save by men’s soccer keeper Charlier Dyer in the 1-0 win against Saint Martin’s Nov. 2, but it was a doozy — in the game’s 80th minute, Dyer punched the ball over the crossbar to preserve his third shutout and the team’s sixth-straight victory
5 – Straight shutouts for the women’s soccer team as sophomore center back Olivia Connell played all 90 minutes in each of the Vikings’ two 2-0 road-game wins (Western Oregon Oct. 31 and Saint Martin’s Nov. 2). Connell was named GNAC Defensive Player of the Week.
4 – Goals in two games by senior Kyrsten McGuffey, scoring every goal in both 2-0 road wins. McGuffey was named GNAC Offensive Player of the Week as Western became the first school to sweep both player-of-the-week honors in women’s soccer this season
THIS WEEK IN VIKING HISTORY
Nov. 8, 1996 – Freshman forward Julia Goodlett was named Pacific Northwest Athletic Conference first-team all-conference after scoring 13 goals this season to lead the Vikings’ women’s soccer team. The team’s season ended with a 2-0 loss to Seattle University in the PNWAC semifinals in Seattle. Conference honorable mentions for Western were Stacey Wood, Erika Evans, Britta Halverson, Bryn Davison and Wendy Rebar. On the men’s side, Vikings second-year coach Brad Swanson was named PNWAC coach of the year, as Rob Skaafgaard, Scot Swanson and Keith Baker were named first-team all-conference. Team captain Scott Harrington and Kelly Grayum were named to the second team.
BEST BETS (through Sunday, Nov. 17)
Friday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m. – Men’s basketball vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills, Bellingham. The Vikings, ranked No. 6 in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll, kick off their season by hosting State Dominguez Hills, Cal Poly Humboldt and Simon Fraser in the two-day West Region Crossover tournament Nov. 8–9.
Saturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. – Men’s and women’s cross country at NCAA West Regional, Billings, Montana. GNAC three-time champs look for top finishes to qualify for NCAA Division II Championships set for Saturday, Nov. 23 in Sacramento
Tuesday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. – Women’s basketball vs. Cal State East Bay, Bellingham. Nonconference home opener for the Vikings team picked to finish first in GNAC preseason poll.
Thursday, Nov. 14, time TBA – Women’s soccer at GNAC semifinals, Seattle. Post-season kickoff for top-seeded Western team. 7 p.m. – Men’s soccer vs. Western Oregon, Bellingham. GNAC second-place Western squares off against No. 1 Western Oregon in the regular-season finale with the conference title possibly up for grabs and the postseason in view.
Tickets. See wwuvikings.com/Tickets or in person one hour prior to game time.
Parking. Free for sports. For volleyball, lot 19G for general audience; 9G for season ticket holders. For soccer, C lots on south campus. See the map at wwu.edu/parking.
Can’t make it? Stream it
All home games are streamed via a live and free YouTube webcast. Find links online at cascadiadaily.com.
If you have a smart TV, search for “WWU Athletics” on YouTube.
We want to hear from you
Got a WWU sports-related news tip or interesting item for this notebook, or a good story idea? We’re all ears. Send to newstips@cascadiadaily.com, subject line: WWU sports notebook.
Meri-Jo Borzilleri is a freelance journalist and former 20-year sports reporter.
