Willamette Kicks Off Alumni/Homecoming Weekend Against NCU

By Mark Colachico, Interim Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- For the second straight match, the Willamette University womens soccer team will step onto its home pitch Friday against a Cascade Collegiate Conference opponent, taking on Northwest Christian University beginning at 5:00 p.m. (PST) on Sparks Field.

Last Saturday, the Bearcats opened up the home portion of their schedule against CCC member Warner Pacific and fell victim to an early second half goal in a hard-fought 1-0 loss. Despite registering more shots than the visiting Knights, 12-4, Willamette could not find the back of the net despite a pair of second half chances by Emmy Manset (Fr., F, Ventura, CA/Foothill Technology HS) and Kinsey Keene (So., MF, Eagle, ID/Eagle HS).

In three games so far this season, the Bearcats only goal came off the foot of Manset in the 75th minute against Redlands in her collegiate debut. In between the pipes, Emily Sewell (So., GK, Petaluma, CA/Casa Grande HS) has faced 28 shots in 270 minutes of action and registered seven saves.

Following Friday's game, Willamette will be on the road for four straight games to kick off its Northwest Conference schedule. The Bearcats will travel north to Portland to take on Lewis & Clark College (Sep. 17 at 7 p.m.) before playing three straight games in the state of Washington. Willamette will begin its tour around The Evergreen State on the east side in Spokane taking on Whitman (Sep. 20 at 12 p.m.) and Whitworth (Sep. 21 at 12 p.m.) before concluding its journey in Tacoma against preseason favorite Puget Sound (Sep. 28 at 12 p.m.).

Northwest Christian comes into Fridays contest with a 1-2-0 record, as the Beacons will play only their second road game of the season following a 3-0 victory earlier this week at Trinity Lutheran in Washington. Former Corban University player and assistant coach Brett Bentley embarks on her fourth season at the helm of the Beacons, as he helped lead NCU within one game of the program's first-ever playoff berth in 2012 with an overall record of 7-8-1 that included a 5-4-0 mark in conference play. In three seasons, Bentley has compiled a career win-loss record of 12-34-4 that includes a 7-17-2 mark in conference games.

So far this season, Northwest Christian has scored four goals in three games led by Janelle Richards with a pair of goals. Stevie Harrison and Michelle Giron have also scored goals for the Beacons, while Kristin Fulbright has played all 270 minutes between the pipes for NCU registering nine saves with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.00.

Following the aforementioned four-game Northwest Conference road trip, Willamette returns home on Saturday, October 4th, against George Fox University with kickoff scheduled for 12:00 p.m. (PST) on Sparks Field.