Women's Soccer Looks to Finish Season Strong

By Evan Giddings, Student Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- In their final two games of the 2014 season, the Willamette University women's soccer team will take on Northwest Conference opponents Pacific Lutheran University on Friday, Nov. 7, and Pacific University on Saturday, Nov. 8. Game times are both set for 11 a.m. (PST). It will be Senior Day when the Bearcats play Pacific.

Coming into the weekend, Willamette owns an overall record of 2-14-2 and a 1-11-2 conference record. Last weekend, the Bearcats took both games into overtime, falling to Whitworth University 2-1 in one overtime, and then bouncing back to tie Whitman College the next day 0-0 in double-overtime.

For WU this season, the leading scorer has been Jill Phillips (Jr., MF/GK, Fairbanks, AK/West Valley HS). She has registered three goals and three assists for a total of nine points.

Sarah Desautels (Sr., MF/F, Snohomish, WA/Glacier Park HS), Veronica Ewers (Jr., MF, Moscow, ID/Moscow HS), and Kinsey Keene(So., MF, Eagle, ID/Eagle HS) all are tied for second most points on the team with four each. Desautels and Ewers each have scored two goals, while Keene has earned has one goal and two assists.

In between the pipes for Willamette will be Emily Sewall (So., GK, Petaluma, CA/Casa Grande HS), who has logged 1,570 minutes for her team this season. In the NWC, she ranks fifth in saves (58) and is tied for sixth in shutouts (4). She owns a save percentage of .659.

As for the seniors getting set to play their final matches this weekend, the list includes Desautels, Krista Lauer (Sr., D, San Diego, CA/Francis Parker HS/Bates College), Malia Simpson (Sr., MF, Fairbanks, AK/West Valley HS), Brenna McGown (Sr., D, Boise, ID/Boise HS), and Lindsay Russo (Sr., D, La Mesa, CA/Grossmont HS).

On Friday, the Bearcats will battle Pacific Lutheran, which has achieved an NWC-best 12-2 record and is 14-3-1 overall. The Lutes are led on offense by Laura Parson (Jr., F), who is second in the NWC in goals (8) and points (18), as well as Kaylie Rozell (So., F), who has scored six goals and dished out one assist.

On defense it will be Takara Mitsui (So., GK) guarding the nets. She leads the Northwest Conference in goals against average (0.35), save percentage (.897), and shutouts (10). In their first meeting on Oct. 12, the Lutes bested the Bearcats 3-0 in Parkland, Wash.

The next day, WU takes on Pacific, which has a conference record of 3-10-1 to go with an overall record of 6-11-1. The top scorer for the Boxers so far this season has been Kara Lankey (So., F)., She has recorded four goals and two assists, good for 10 points.

The goalkeeper position has seen more than one player for the Boxers, but in their previous match against Willamette it was Megan Green (So., GK) who started and will likely do so again. She has played just over 601 minutes for Pacific and has registered 27 saves and one shutout.