Last Saturday, Oct. 19, in the midst of gale-force winds and the start of an atmospheric-river rainfall, Western’s men’s and women’s soccer teams did what they’ve done for a decade now at their home Harrington Field.
They played through.
The men beat Montana State University Billings, 2-1, in an understandably sloppy game with two penalty kicks (one for each) called and converted in the first three minutes. Later in the evening, the league-leading women’s team beat Simon Fraser, 1-0, on a goal in the 80th minute by Emily Holdridge, who celebrated, then later wrung out her jersey.
“Saturday was probably the coldest game I’ve played in Bellingham,” said Eric Bunnell, a senior who scored Saturday’s winning goal. “The wind was nuts, sideways rain. Every time you thought you could get warm, you were just wet and you couldn’t ever get dry. So it was a pretty miserable game.”
They had practiced in similar conditions the day before and knew what was coming.
“We kept telling ourselves, ‘We’re warm. We’re warm right now, even if we had to trick ourselves to say it out loud,’” Bunnell said. “‘It’s warm out here. They look cold over there, right?’ We knew that if we let the weather get to us, that was just one more thing that was in our way.”
Despite the deluge, playing at Harrington has its magic. Since 2014, women’s and men’s teams have a combined 139-32 record (.774) at Harrington going into Thursday, Oct. 24’s games against Seattle Pacific (men) and Northwest Nazarene (women).
That means about three of every four times a Viking team plays at Harrington, they win. The two-time national champion women have a record even more remarkable at 90-7-9 (.892).
Bunnell doesn’t remember losing much at home or ever losing badly.
“We call it our fortress,” he said. “You could feel even through that rain and the weather, you would look up to the stands and you would hear cars honking and fans cheering in the stands. So we still had faithful fans, even though it was probably the worst weather I’ve ever seen, and given that we love the fan support, we had our task at hand. We know that Harrington is our homestead, and we aren’t going to let anyone come in and beat us there.”
A few disappointing results earlier this season, including two losses at home, haven’t deterred the men’s team (2-2-1 conference, 4-4-3 overall) sitting in fourth place in the GNAC behind Western Oregon, Seattle Pacific and Northwest Nazarene. Bunnell said Saturday’s storm was the start of something good.
“I definitely feel like our shooting boots are on now, we’re finally being able to find the back of the net more,” he said. “Our intentions are to win this GNAC, and that’s what we expect of ourselves and that’s what we’re going to do.
“That’s not what it looks like right now, but we’re never going to give up on our season. We know that this GNAC is wide open and that a lot of crazy things happen, and crazier things have happened.”
Like a storm that ignites a season, perhaps. Stay tuned.
BY THE NUMBERS
72 – Final-round score for junior golfer Lauren F. Lee at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate in Waikoloa Village, Hawaii, to place tied for second overall in the 78-player field. Lee’s two-round, 2-over-par 146 helped the Vikings place ninth of 15 teams
13 – Birdies by junior co-captain Peter Dionne-Yahr en route to a tie for fourth in the 106-player field at the same tournament, held on the Kohala Coast in Hawaii. The men’s golf team finished sixth of 19 teams. Unranked Western finished ahead of No. 11 Colorado Mesa and No. 16 Simon Fraser
3 – Goals that Morgan Manalili played a role in last week as the women’s soccer team won two games, including an assist and game-winner against Montana State Billings, that helped her win GNAC Player of the Week honors. Manalili’s two goals this season have each been game-winners and she is tied for second in the conference in assists with 5
0 – Times Western’s volleyball team failed to score at least 20 game points in a match this season before its straight-set loss to league-leading Central Washington (8-1, 10-5 overall), 25-18, 25-13, 25-16 in Ellensburg Oct. 19. The Vikings (7-8 overall, 6-3 GNAC), who swept Northwest Nazarene two days prior, remain in third place in the GNAC and next face Simon Fraser Saturday, Oct. 26
THIS WEEK IN VIKING HISTORY
Oct. 29, 2004 – By adding “the Tylers,” Western’s men’s basketball coach Brad Jackson hopes to improve a team that missed making the NCAA Division II playoffs by one game as it enters the 2004–05 season. Juniors Tyler MacMullen and Tyler Amaya, at 6-foot, 9-inches and 6-foot-7, respectively, joined the team to shore up its interior defense. Returners include junior guards Grant Dykstra, Ryan Diggs and Kyle Jackson along with senior forward Craig Roosendaal.
BEST BETS
Thursday, Oct. 24, 4 p.m. – Women’s soccer vs. Northwest Nazarene, Bellingham. Conference-leading Western is favored to continue its GNAC unbeaten streak; 7 p.m. – Men’s soccer vs. Seattle Pacific, Bellingham. At 2-2-1 and tied for fourth in the conference, Western can make a move if it can upend second-place SPU. The teams tied, 2-2, Oct. 5.
Saturday, Oct. 26, 10 a.m. – Cross Country at GNAC Championships, Sudden Valley Golf Course, Bellingham. Two-time defending champion men’s and women’s teams get to host and are poised for three-peats as NCAAs loom; 2 p.m. – Women’s soccer vs. Central Washington. Senior Day comes early in the final home match of the regular season.
Tuesday, Oct. 29, 7 p.m. – Women’s and men’s basketball, Viking Jam exhibition, Bellingham. See what’s in store with this fan-friendly annual tradition to open the season.
Saturday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m. – Volleyball vs. Saint Martin’s, Bellingham. Western, third in the GNAC, takes on the No. 1 team in the conference — a good midseason measuring stick for a Viking team working its way back to prominence.
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.