By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – For the second year in-a-row, the Western Washington women’s soccer team navigated its Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule in unbeaten fashion, emerging as the conference regular-season champion.
 
The Vikings went 11-0-3 in league play to exactly match last year’s mark, accumulating 36 points to clinch their record 11th regular-season crown. A draw against runner-up Simon Fraser Thursday and a win over Central Washington Saturday sealed this year’s trophy and earned WWU GNAC Team of the Week honors.
 
Sitting at 13-1-5 overall this fall, the Vikings enter this week’s GNAC Championships tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. WWU was ranked No. 12 in last week’s United Soccer Coaches top-25 national poll and showed up at No. 3 in the latest NCAA regional rankings, which will eventually determine the six-team field for this year’s regional championship. The team’s only loss this season was a 3-2 result to then-No. 1 Colorado Mines on Sept. 10.
 
Needing just one point to secure the outright title, WWU’s week started with a hard-fought match against the Red Leafs. Morgan Manalili found the back of the net just before halftime to give her team a 1-0 lead, before SFU countered with an equalizer early in the second half in what proved to be all the scoring between the two stingy defensive sides.
 
While the draw in itself was enough to wrap up the crown for the Vikings, they closed out their regular season schedule with their foot on the gas with a 3-0 triumph over Central Washington on Saturday. Manalili scored two more goals including the game-winner, and Triya Mitchell scored her second goal of the year in the 82nd minute to seal the comprehensive victory.
 
The Vikings broke a tie with Seattle Pacific for the most-ever regular-season women’s soccer trophies, as the duo started the season with 10 crowns apiece. Now the Vikings will shift their focus to the conference tournament, where they also have the most trophies (six) but have fallen short in the title match each of the last two seasons against Simon Fraser. WWU’s semifinal match on Thursday against Seattle Pacific is scheduled for a 2 p.m. (Pacific) kickoff at Terry Fox Field on the campus of SFU. Complete championship details can be found online here.
 
By most metrics, WWU has been the conference’s best team all season long. WWU’s 45 goals scored (2.37 goals per game) are 12 more than the next closest team (SFU) and its 14 goals allowed (0.74 per game) are tied for second fewest. That equates to a GNAC-leading margin of plus-1.63 goals per game.
 
Fueling the torrid scoring pace has been Manalili, who has put together her best collegiate statistical campaign to date. Her GNAC-leading 16 goals and 39 points rank her fifth and third, respectively across all of Division II women’s soccer. The three-time GNAC Player of the Week has produced five multi-goal efforts this season, including on Saturday in the 3-0 blanking of Central Washington. Six of Manalili’s goals have stood as game-winners, and she has climbed to No. 11 in GNAC history in both points (91) and goals scored (34).
 
Fellow senior Claire Potter, a two-time GNAC Player of the Week pick, has contributed seven goals and five assists while also starting all 19 matches. Senior defender Emily Rice is tied with Manalili with a team-leading seven assists and has added a pair of goals. In total, 13 different Vikings have found the back of the net this season.
 
Defensively, the Vikings are anchored by senior Asia Hardin who virtually never leaves the pitch. Her 87 career starts are second-most in conference history and she has already logged a WWU-record 7,801-career minutes. Alongside her on the back line is Olivia Connell and she and midfielder Mie Cairns have been impact makers in all 19 matches this season.
 
WWU has also relied on the likes of transfer Reese Walker, who has put home three goals to go along with two assists while starting every match. She and Emily Holdridge are tied for fifth on the team with eight points apiece, while midfielder Jane Hmura (19 starts) and defender Kascia Muscutt (17 starts) have been other rocks in the lineup.
 
In goal, WWU has relied on freshman Ellie McGowan who has started 16 matches and collected seven shutouts. McGowan’s goals-against average of .460 ranks her second in the conference, and she is third in the league with a save percentage of .825.
 
Leading the ship is head coach Travis Connell, who is in his 23rd season piloting the program. He has been at the forefront of the Vikings’ rise to the top of the Division II women’s soccer world, his career highlighted by national titles in 2016 and 2022. A perennial contender on the national stage, WWU has not gone without points in a conference match since Nov. 2, 2023. That stretch covers 29 consecutive league matches across the last three seasons.
 
 
The women’s soccer program is also among rarified air across all GNAC sports, being one of the few teams (10 total) to reach double digits in total GNAC trophies.
 

Most Regular Season & Tournament Trophies, GNAC History
Total	School	Sport	Titles
22	Western Oregon	Baseball	16 Reg. Season, 6 GNAC Championships
17	Western Washington	Women's Soccer	11 Reg. Season, 6 GNAC Championships
16	Alaska Anchorage	Women's Basketball	9 Reg. Season, 7 GNAC Championships
13	Seattle Pacific	Women's Soccer	10 Reg. Season, 3 GNAC Championships
13	Seattle Pacific	Women's Indoor Track	13 GNAC Championships
12	Western Washington	Men's Outdoor Track	12 GNAC Championships
11	Alaska Anchorage	Women's Cross Country	11 GNAC Championships
11	Western Washington	Men's Golf	11 GNAC Championships
10	Western Washington	Volleyball	10 Reg. Season
10	Western Washington	Women's Basketball	6 Reg. Season, 4 GNAC Championships