By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

Photography by: Clayton Jones, Western Oregon University

PORTLAND, Ore. – On Oct. 4 Western Oregon’s men’s soccer team had no points from two conference matches played, finding itself looking up from the bottom of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.
 
The 2024 regular-season champions knew that a road trip to Western Washington and Simon Fraser would make for a tough start to their league schedule, and it soon became a reality that they would have to fight from behind to make up ground.
 
Fast forward to Nov. 3, and the Wolves find themselves not only in contention for a GNAC Championships tournament berth, but with a chance to successfully defend last year’s title. WOU took down No. 24 Seattle Pacific 2-0 last Thursday before a 2-1 win at Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, extending its unbeaten streak to six matches since the early-season tribulation. Named the GNAC Team of the Week on Monday, Western Oregon has howled back into the postseason picture entering the final week of the regular season the winner of three straight.
 
“We look at each game and assess how we can get better and grow throughout the season,” said WOU head coach Michael Behonick, now in his third season leading the team. “Each year it is a new team that will face new challenges. After being on the road for a long stretch and starting conference with two losses, we needed to continue to work and evolve as a team. A lucky part for us was having a bye that next Thursday, which allowed us to get back to work on the training field and fix some things that we knew we could make better.”
 
Suiting up for a night game at Interbay Stadium last Thursday, the Wolves emerged with a clean-sheet win over the Falcons to earn the season edge after the two sides tied 1-1 on Oct. 16. Sophomore Michael Divano put his team ahead in the 13th minute before junior Evan Huber supplied the second tally midway through the second half. The Wolves relied on GNAC Defensive Player of the Week Austin Valdez to keep the clean sheet in goal, amid facing a season-high 18 shots. Defenders Caleb Kiner, Harper Neubeck and Eli White each also turned in 90-minute efforts on the back line, and GNAC Offensive Player of the Week Yahir Ocampo Navarro had the assist on Divano’s game-winner.
 
“Both games against SPU have been high level games,” Behonick said on facing the Falcons twice this fall. “It is two very good teams and the guys are all familiar with each other. We learned a bit from the first time we played them, and we were able to take chances when we had them. We had to work to be resilient and grind out a result with a bit of grit at the end. Those games ebb and flow, and you have to take advantage of your opportunities and do everything defensively to keep a clean sheet.”
 
It was a bit of a similar story on Saturday against the Nighthawks, with the sides having played to a scoreless draw in their initial meeting on Oct. 18 in Monmouth, Ore. It was once again Divano who notched the opening goal, finding the net in the 17th minute on another assist from Ocampo Navarro. This time the opponent struck back, however, as NNU equalized the score line just two minutes after Divano put his team up 1-0. Ocampo Navarro took it from there, scoring his fifth goal of the season six minutes before halftime for what proved to be the match winner. Valdez and the back line took care of business with a clean second half, and he finished the match tying his season high with six saves.
 
“That was a complete team effort, and it was a hard turnaround for us to play NNU on the road after such an intense game both physically and emotionally on Thursday,” Behonick said. “To travel and play that match in less than 48 hours – we used basically everyone we had with us off the bench. It was a complete team performance from 1 to 22, and everyone on the trip helped us earn the victory. We had to defend the lead, and we did a good job with details to finish out the game.”
 
It comes as no surprise that Ocampo Navarro was at the heart of last week’s offensive production – he is a two-time all-conference midfielder now in his junior season with the Wolves. He increased his season tally to five goals and four assists for 14 points, ranking him fifth in the conference. In 52 matches played at WOU since the fall of 2023, Ocampo Navarro has 16 goals and 15 assists for 47 total points. “What a lot of people don’t realize with him is that he spent six months injured – he was out from last January to this preseason,” Behonick said. “In the early part of the year he was trying to get back and get comfortable to game speed and his fitness level. He shows up to work every day and does the right things. He’s a winner – he wants to win everything he does on and off the field. Yahir gives 100% of everything he has every game, and he is an important piece for us.”
 
Divano meanwhile has also found the net five teams, while adding three assists and starting all 16 of WOU’s games this fall. Seniors Neubeck and Kiner join Divano as the only three Wolves to start every match, with the former duo being of paramount importance on the back line in front of Valdez. The first-year WOU shot stopper holds a 0.57 goals-against average in seven starts, with four shutouts and a save percentage of .867. “Austin has done a great job,” said Behonick. “He is a fantastic kid who shows up to training every day with the right attitude. He has gone in and made the saves he needs to make, commanded the box, organized the defense and helped the guys in front of him be where they need to be. He has done a good job doing all the things needed to help the team win.”
 
The results suggest that tightening up the defense was the key to WOU breaking out of its funk. In a four-match winless stretch from Sept. 25-Oct. 4, WOU was out-scored 9-4 averaging 2.25 goals conceded per match. Since then, it has been a reversal to 13-4 in favor of WOU amid the current six-match unbeaten stretch. “Every guy on our team has the responsibility to defend – to block shots and track guys in the box,” Behonick said of his team’s defensive philosophy. “We gave away some bad goals earlier in the year, and have worked to correct that with our mentality.”
 
Behonick’s tenure has been a successful one at WOU, as he has compiled an overall record of 33-12-8 (.698) including 21-6-5 (.734) in conference matches. He was voted by his peers as the GNAC Coach of the Year in each of his first two seasons in charge. After earning its first GNAC trophy in just its third year of existence as a program last fall, the Wolves went on to win their first NCAA regional playoff match as well. One year later, and the Wolves are right back in the mix to contend for another postseason berth.
 
Now in the middle of the closest GNAC men’s soccer race in recent memory, WOU, like its opponents, still has everything to play for. Four teams are separated by just four total points, and all four could finish as high as first and as low as missing the conference tournament depending on how the final five matches of the conference schedule play out this weekend. The top three teams after Saturday’s results go final will earn spots in the inaugural GNAC Men’s Soccer Championships, which run Nov. 13-15 at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
 
WOU enters the week with 14 points; trailing the first-place Falcons by three but holding a game in hand as SPU has just one match left to play. WOU will play fourth-place Simon Fraser (13 points) on Thursday (noon, Pacific) and second-place Western Washington (16 points) on Saturday (10 a.m., Pacific). Two wins would guarantee the Wolves at least a share of the regular-season title as well as the No. 1 overall seed into the conference tournament. But the simplicity of that equations extends to the other three teams as well – win, and you’re in.
 
“It’s an amazing opportunity for everybody involved,” Behonick said of the air-tight playoff race. “You work through the start of preseason to prepare for a tough conference schedule, and you hope you’re playing your best soccer at the end of the day. For all four teams to have the opportunity to do it – it’s what you want college soccer to be. The players have the opportunity to push themselves to compete at the highest level. It’s going to come down to the details in each match and the opportunities taken. It is going to be a fun weekend of soccer for us in this conference.”