BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men’s soccer team has reported to campus and held its first practice of the 2018 campaign on Monday at Harrington Field.
The Vikings are coming off a 2017 season during which WWU tied for 3rd in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings after going 6-6-5 overall and 5-4-3 in conference action. WWU placed in a tie for 2nd in the GNAC two seasons ago during 2016 before advancing to the NCAA Tournament and has been among the top three in the conference standings in three of the last five seasons.
The 2018 season begins with a pair of exhibition matches prior to the official season opener. WWU travels to face British Columbia on Aug. 18 (4 pm) and later hosts Puget Sound on Aug. 25 (7 pm) before the official season begins.
The regular season opener will be in Northern California at Sonoma State on Aug. 30 (7 pm). The season-opening trip to California also includes a game against Chico State on Sept. 1 (7 pm) as the Vikings oppose Sonoma State and Chico State to begin the season for the third consecutive year.
The non-conference schedule also includes games in California at No. 23 Point Loma (Sept. 6, 4:30 pm) and Azusa Pacific (Sept. 8, 2:30 pm). The first official home games for the Vikings will be Sept 11. vs. Hawaii Hilo (7 pm) and Sept. 15 (7 pm) vs. Hawaii Pacific to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.
The Vikings open the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule on Sept. 20 (1 pm) at Saint Martin’s before playing their conference home opener on Sept. 22 (7 pm) against Montana State Billings.
Additional home games for the Vikings will be against Concordia (Sept. 29, 7 pm), Saint Martin’s (Oct. 18, 4 pm), Northwest Nazarene (Oct. 25, 7 pm), Seattle Pacific (Oct. 27, 7 pm) and No. 20 Simon Fraser (Nov. 1, 7 pm).
Additional road games for WWU will be at Montana State Billings (Oct. 4, 1 pm MT), Northwest Nazarene (Oct. 6, 4 pm MT), Seattle Pacific (Oct. 11, 4:30 pm), No. 20 Simon Fraser (Oct. 1, 7 pm) and Concordia (Nov. 3, 7 pm).
Head coach Greg Brisbon enters his 6th season leading the Vikings and 18th year overall at WWU with a 41-33-16 overall record. WWU returns 15 players with at least a year of varsity experience, including 5 players who made 10 or more starts during the 2017 season.
WWU set the school record for ties last season and went to overtime in 9 of 17 contests during the season. The Vikings were one of the top defensive teams during 2017 after ranking 2nd in the GNAC in goals allowed per game (1.41), goals-against average (1.29) and shutouts (5).
The Vikings picked to place 4th in the GNAC Preseason Coaches Poll, released last Thursday by the conference office. WWU had its best-ever win streak start to the GNAC schedule in 2017 by going 5-0-1 over the first six games, including a four-game win streak. That stretch followed a 5-0-1 finish the GNAC schedule two years ago during the 2016 season.
