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Oct. 24, 2011

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Three regular-season games remain for the Western Washington University women's soccer team and just one of those is at home when the Vikings entertain Western Oregon University on Saturday (1 p.m.) in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference counter at Orca Field on the Whatcom CC campus.

The contest will be the final one at home for seven WWU seniors. They are Kelly Cates (Poulsb/North Kitsap), Megan Chapin (Seattle/Garfield), Emily Frankland (Sammamish/Skyline), Katie Griffith (Burlington/Burlington-Edison), Justina MacDowell (Bellevue/Sammamish), Alicia Patten (Seattle/Holy Names Academy) and Emily Warman (Sedro-Woolley).

The Vikings, 7-5-3 overall and fourth in the GNAC at 6-4-1, travel to Saint Martin's University on Thursday (3:15 p.m.) and are at Simon Fraser University on Friday, Nov. 4 (7 p.m.).

Travis Connell, who is in his ninth season coaching the WWU women, is one win shy of his 100th victory with a record of 99-55-19. Connell is 117-112-14 in 13 years as the Viking men's coach for an overall record of 216-167-33.

The Vikings are 5-1-3 at home this season, the lone loss being 1-0 to conference-leader Seattle Pacific on Sept. 14.

Last week, the Vikings tied and won in a pair of GNAC home games. They played Montana State Billings to a 0-0 deadlock despite having a 24-6 shot advantage, then crushed Northwest Nazarene 4-0. In all, WWU outshot the opposition, 50-15.

Saint Martin's is 3-10-2 overall and 3-8-0 in GNAC action. The Saints have won three of their last seven games, all the wins being on the road, following a 0-6-2 start.

Western Oregon, which is at Simon Fraser on Thursday, is 5-7-3 overall and 4-5-2 in conference play. The Wolves are 3-2-1 in their last six games after beginning the season 2-5-2.

Simon Fraser, which hosts Western Oregon on Thursday and travels to Saint Martin's on Sunday, is 2-10-1 overall and 1-9-1 in league action. The Clan is 1-1-1 in its last three games after winning just one of its first 10 contests.

WWU posted wins over all three opponents earlier this season, defeating Saint Martin's 3-0, Western Oregon 4-1 and Simon Fraser 1-0. The Vikings hold series advantages over Saint Martin's, 6-2-1, and Western Oregon, 23-5, winning the last 11 meetings. They trail Simon Fraser, 14-16-3.

WWU, which snapped a two-game scoreless streak with its win over Northwest Nazarene, is led in scoring by Frankland, who has five goals and one assist for 11 points.

Tied for second with eight points are sophomore midfielder Brina Sych (Vancouver/Union), who has three goals and two assists, and Chapin, who tops the team with four assists to go with two goals.

MacDowell, who earned GNAC co-Player of the Week honors earlier this fall, has three goals and one assist for seven points.

Junior goalkeeper Jamie Arthurs (Richland) is first in the GNAC in shutouts with eight. She has a goals against average of 0.66 and a .804 save percentage.