SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Western Washington University junior defender Emily Nelson scored the golden goal in the second overtime to lift the No. 7-ranked Vikings to a season-opening 2-1 road victory over Point Loma Thursday afternoon at PLNU Soccer Field.
WWU improves to 1-0 on the season, extending its season-opening unbeaten streak to six consecutive seasons (5-0-1). The Sea Lions opened the season 0-1 after finishing last season 9-7-1.
“Point Loma came out and gave us everything we could handle…and more today,” said head coach Travis Connell, in his 16th season guiding the program. “They are going to win a lot of games this year.
“We certainly learned a lot today, identified areas we can improve on, but we are happy with the result as they earned it,” added Connell. “It is a new season and a new team. We found a way to get the win and that will help us become who we need to be if we want to be a championship team.”
The Vikings wasted little time getting on the board when senior defender Taylor Hallquist (Vancouver, WA/Columbia River) scored just 1:42 into the match. Senior forward Gabriela Pelogi (Federal Way, WA) drew a foul at the top of the box setting up a free kick, where Hallquist took the direct shot from 22-yards out, curling the ball towards the upper left quadrant that snuck through the out-reached hands of the PLNU goalkeeper for the 1-0 lead.
The Sea Lions scored the equalizer in the 66th minute on a header goal by Lauren O’Malley off a corner kick by Abbi Swanson.
After a scoreless first overtime period, the Vikings broke through in the 107th minute when Nelson collected a loose ball in the box and beat the goalie to the far side for the game winner.
“Emily was fantastic today throughout the match, with her play and her leadership,” added Connell. “It is fitting she got the game winner.”
The Sea Lions out-shot the Vikings 16-10, with a 5-4 advantage in shots on mark, and a 10-4 advantage in shots in the second half. Both teams took three shots in overtime, with Nelson’s finding the back of the net for her first career game-winning goal (third goal of career).
WWU continues its Southern California road trip on Saturday with a showdown against 5th-ranked UC San Diego, in a rematch of the last two West Regional championship matches. Kickoff against UCSD will be at 3:30 pm at Triton Soccer Stadium. The match can be followed via live stats and a pay-per-view webcast with live links available at WWUVikings.com/Live.
GAME NOTES…the game-winning goal for Emily Nelson was the third of her career and first since scoring a pair of goals during her freshman season (first game-winning goal)…Taylor Hallquist scored her third career goal…the win marked the 100th over the last 6 seasons, building a 100-7-7 record (.908) over that stretch that dates back to the start of the 2013 season…WWU was out-shot 16-10 in the game, snapping a string of 55 consecutive games in which the Vikings had not been out-shot by an opponent…the streak dates back to the final 10 games of 2015, 25 games during the national championship season in 2016 and 20 games last season)…WWU was last out-shot 15-13 by Seattle Pacific on Oct. 17, 2015.
