A season-opening, non-conference homestand against challenging regional competition finished with a promising 2-1-1 record for Western’s men’s soccer team, which is hitting the road this week for its first trip of the 2024 season.
Talking last weekend with 20-year Viking coach Greg Brisbon, you could tell Brisbon didn’t really want to go there, but with prompting, he did: Yes, this team reminds him of past Viking squads of 2016 and 2019, the only ones in team history to make it to the NCAA Division II championship tournament.
“We talk about that a lot,” said Brisbon, in his 20th year as coach in the Western program after the team scored a goal in each half and hung on to beat Cal State University Dominguez Hills, 2-1, Saturday, Sept. 14 at Western’s Harrington Field. “But it’s still early … we’ll see how this road trip goes.”
Western left this week for two final non-conference games in Utah against Westminster (Thursday, Sept. 19) and Regis (Saturday, Sept. 21) universities. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference season starts next month on Thursday, Oct. 3 at Western Oregon.
Brisbon is feeling good about his team’s counterattack, deep bench, a big group of seniors led by midfielder Adan Fernandez, and promising up-and-comers like Sehome grad Reiley Buri-Brown, a freshman defender who assisted on Eric Bunnell’s goal. Bunnell added an assist on Albin Jonsson’s score, giving Western a 2-0 lead before the Toros scored at the 63-minute mark.
Western was picked to finish third in the GNAC, but opened the season with a win over nationally ranked No. 18 Chico State and a narrow 1-0 loss to No. 3 Cal State-Los Angeles on a penalty kick. Like Brisbon said, it’s early, but with history in the rearview (objects are closer than they appear!), the team might just outperform those expectations.
Cross country has fast start
An NCAA Division I school, the University of Portland, was the only team to finish better than Western’s cross country women’s and men’s team as the Vikings made their 2024 debut at the Green River Gator Invitational at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood Sept. 14.
Western picked up where it left off — making history last spring as the first school to sweep GNAC titles in all six running-related team sports (women’s and men’s cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field) in 2023–24.
Western’s women’s team, ranked No. 10 in NCAA Division II and coming off last year’s first-ever NCAA West Region title for the program, finished with 50 points, second to Portland’s 25 points, in the eight-team field. Western placed five runners in the top 13, led by senior Sophie Wright’s 7th place in a time of 13 minutes, 34.5 seconds over the 4K (2.4-mile) course. Freshman Juliette Forstrom from Portland, ranked sixth in the NCAA Division I West Region, won the women’s race in 13:06.1.
Western’s men, also No. 10 in NCAA Division II, was second with 74 points to Portland 15 points in a field of 13 schools. Western finished with five runners in the top 20. Redshirt freshman Sten Brakstad was the top Viking finisher in 17:48.1 over 6K (3.6 miles). Nate Lantz was the overall winner, posting a time of 17:19.9 to lead Portland, ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division I.
Women’s golf opens with two tourneys
Last season: GNAC runners-up to Simon Fraser University, which set a new GNAC team tournament record last spring
This season: Three All-GNAC players return as the team will again chase SFU for the conference title
Three things to know:
- Western returns GNAC first-team players Emma Worgum, a junior from La Conner, and Pleasanton, California, junior Lauren F. Lee, along with second-team all-conference pick Kasey Maralack, a junior from Snoqualmie.
- Two freshman, Lauren J. Lee of Bellevue and Kenzie Walsh of Billings, Montana, round out the starting five
- The Vikings kick off the season with two tournaments in four days — the SMU Grisham Memorial on The Home Course in DuPont Sept. 20–21 and the True North Classic on Burnaby, British Columbia’s Riverway Golf Course Sept. 23–24
BY THE NUMBERS
2 – Starters on the women’s golf team named Lauren Lee. Lauren F. Lee is a junior from Pleasanton, California; Lauren J. Lee is a freshman from Bellevue. They will start at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively
4 – NCAA Division II West Region rivals played in the preseason by the men’s soccer team, whose 2-1-1 record will help with postseason NCAA tournament consideration
50 – editions of the WWU Classic cross-country meet, set for Saturday, Sept. 28 at Ferndale’s Hovander Park. Renamed the Bill Roe Classic four years ago, it now honors the longtime assistant coach and USA Track and Field former president, who died in 2020
1 – goals Western’s women’s soccer team scored in its two-game California swing, losing to Azusa Pacific, 1-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and tying Sonoma State, 1-1 scoring only on an own goal
8 – times Western’s women were called offside while being shut out by Azusa Pacific
15 – straight sets lost by Western’s volleyball team in a bruising non-conference schedule, where it played four nationally ranked teams, the last No. 10 Cal Poly Pomona on Sept. 14. The 1-5 Vikings return to (hopefully) better results in the GNAC opener Thursday, Sept. 19, hosting Alaska Fairbanks at Carver Gym
THIS WEEK IN VIKING HISTORY
Sept. 25, 1984 – Western’s women’s soccer team is 4-0 after beating the “usually tough” Washington Huskies, 4-0, after eight UW starters decided to stay home for sorority rush weekend. Kris Bradley, Nancy Hartley, Dianna Holley and Cindy Gordon scored goals. Senior midfielder Paula French said an early goal set the tone, with coach Dominic Garguile praising a team effort but critical of too much play up the field’s left side. Said player Kelly Billingsley: “I knew we’d win. I didn’t know it would be 4-0 though.” Previous wins came against Seattle University, Cal-Poly Pomona and Chico State University at a tournament in Chico, California.
BEST BETS
Thursday, Sept. 19, 7 p.m. – WWU volleyball vs. Alaska Fairbanks, Bellingham (GNAC opener)
Friday, Sept. 20, 8 a.m. – WWU women’s golf at St. Martin’s University Grisham Memorial, The Home Course, DuPont (season opener)
Saturday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m. – WWU volleyball vs. Alaska Anchorage, Bellingham
Sunday, Sept. 22, 1 p.m. – WWU women’s soccer vs. Colorado School of Mines, Bellingham
Monday, Sept. 23 and Tuesday, Sept. 24, 8:30 a.m. – Men’s and women’s Golf at True North Classic, Burnaby, British Columbia, Riverway Golf Course (men’s season opener)
Thursday, Sept. 26, 6 p.m. – Women’s soccer at Simon Fraser, Burnaby, British Columbia (GNAC opener)
Friday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m. – Volleyball vs. Simon Fraser, Bellingham
Saturday, Sept. 28, 10 a.m. – Cross country at Bill Roe Classic, Ferndale, Hovander Park; noon – softball vs. Edmonds College, Bellingham (fall schedule); 7 p.m. – women’s soccer vs. Seattle Pacific, Bellingham
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: Have a WWU sports-related news tip or interesting item for this notebook, or a good story idea? We’re all ears. Send it to newstips@cascadiadaily.com, subject line “WWU sports notebook.”
Meri-Jo Borzilleri is a freelance journalist and former 20-year sports reporter.
