By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – One save proved to be the difference on Saturday night at Terry Fox Field, as the Simon Fraser women’s soccer team edged past Western Washington 5-4 in a penalty-kick shootout to earn its third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament trophy.
 
The denial came from GNAC Championships Most Valuable Player Sarah Loewen, who leapt to her right to push away the opening penalty kick try by the Vikings. Simon Fraser’s takers did the rest, converting all five of their attempts to make Loewen’s save hold up as the deciding factor. It marked just the third time in the 13-year history of the tournament that the trophy was decided by a shootout, and the first since 2014. Loewen became the second goalkeeper to claim tournament MVP honors, joining Seattle Pacific’s Natalie Harold who was at the hands of the Falcons’ 4-1 shootout triumph in 2013.
 
It completed a standout overall tournament performance by SFU, which beat Western Oregon 1-0 in Thursday’s semifinal before a 0-0, double-overtime draw against the Vikings in the title game. The Red Leafs, who earned the regional No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Western Oregon in this week’s NCAA playoffs, were named the GNAC Team of the Week on Monday.

 
Saturday’s dominant penalty-kick performance had a certain vengeance to it, as the memory of SFU’s exit in the 2023 NCAA Championships loomed large. After tying Cal State LA in their first-ever NCAA playoff match on Nov. 16, 2023, SFU went cold from the penalty spot missing all four of its attempts and ultimately ending its season. Things went differently on Saturday. Sarah Caravatta, who was among the Red Leafs who missed two seasons ago, was true from the spot this time. Conversions also came from Sofia Faremo, Alyssa Clark, Jensa Napier-Ganley and, fittingly last, captain Eve LaFontaine with what proved to be the shootout winner.
 
SFU joined Western Washington (2015-17) as the only other GNAC program to capture three consecutive GNAC Championships tournament titles. The two powerhouses are also the only two GNAC teams to produce two shutouts in the same championship, with SFU doing so last year as well and the Vikings achieving that three times (2012, 2017, 2022).
 
Loewen’s MVP performance started on Thursday night, when she made four saves while facing 13 shots from a determined Western Oregon attack. The fifth-year senior passed every test however, helping her team advance to the tournament title game for the third year in-a-row.
 
She was even better beneath the pressure of the championship match, coming away with seven saves amid a barrage of 14 shots that the Vikings took. Beyond the stat sheet, Loewen was constantly off her line to punch away dangerous crosses and she helped facilitate the SFU offense from the back line with the ball at her feet. The two clean sheets upped Loewen’s career total to 31, moving her into a tie for second in GNAC history. She also climbed to No. 10 in conference history with 284 saves and No. 10 in goalkeeper minutes played with 5,835.
 
Deserving equal credit for SFU’s defensive dominance on its home pitch last week was a back line that prominently featured LaFontaine, Kate Smith, Abbey Simpson and Elyse Beaudry. Beaudry bounced back from an injury that took her out of the semifinal match, returning to play all but one minute of Saturday’s double-overtime affair. Smith, Simpson and LaFontaine each played the full 110 minutes in front of Loewen to help keep the Vikings out of the net.
 
SFU’s lone goal in the tournament came off the foot of senior Chelsea Crocq, who was conveniently positioned inside the box when a shot by Kaiden Sherwood was deflected away by WOU goalkeeper Bella Lopez on Thursday. Crocq calmly finished her first goal of the season and the fourth of her career into an open net in the 1-0 win. Her other game-winning goal came in the first match of her collegiate career, in a 1-0 win over MSU Denver on Aug. 26, 2022.
 
Sherwood was another constant threat for the Red Leafs offensively, totaling five shots including two on frame and earning the assist on Crocq’s finish. Napier-Ganley and Kiera Scott each rattled the woodwork of the goal in the championship match, coming inches away from finding the net themselves. Clark was another key presence throughout both matches, delivering dangerous crosses on free kicks and corner kicks and finishing with a pair of shots in the title match.
 
The Red Leafs also relied on important minutes off the bench from freshman defender Emi MacAdam in both matches, as she replaced Beaudry on Thursday to help see the clean sheet through. She and sophomore defender Isabella Santoianni each made their conference tournament debuts.
 
Leading the charge was head coach Carlo Basso, who has now delivered the tournament trophy to his alma mater in each of his first three seasons. The Red Leafs are 13-2-5 this fall and finished second in the GNAC standings with 30 points on a league record of 9-2-3. Basso is now 35-11-14 overall and 22-10-10 in conference matches since taking the reigns in 2023.
 
Next on the mission for the SFU women is their first-ever regional victory, as they fell 2-1 against Point Loma in last year’s NCAA tournament after the penalty-kick defeat in 2023. The Red Leafs enter Thursday’s opening round match on a seven-game unbeaten streak.

It will be a rematch of the GNAC semifinals, with kickoff against WOU scheduled for noon (Pacific) on Friday in Pomona, Calif., on the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.