Viking men to play final home games of the regular season this week

Six seniors make their last regular-season home appearances this week for the Western Washington University men's soccer team which entertains South Dakota School of Mines on Thursday, Oct. 30 (7 p.m.), and University of Mary on Saturday, Nov. 1 (7 p.m.), in Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests at Robert S. Harrington Field on the WWU campus.
Making up the half-dozen seniors are defender Pat Cole (Sr., Bellingham/Sehome), forward Tye Hastings (Sr., Mill Creek/Jackson), goalkeeper Keegan Rogers (Sr., Portland, OR/Portland Christian), midfielder Caden Sowers (Sr., Ferndale), midfielder Matt Temple (Jr., Beaverton, OR) and midfielder Gabriele Zaccagnini (Sr., Olympia/Capital).

The Vikings are 7-7-1 overall and tied for fourth in the GNAC standings at 5-5-1. They are 5-2-0 in their last seven games, the two losses during that stretch being to the No.1 and No.2 teams in the conference.

WWU ends its regular season at Simon Fraser on Nov. 8. The Clan (8-4-2 overall, 6-3-2) are third in the GNAC, behind unbeaten and nationally No.2-ranked Seattle Pacific (14-0-1, 11-0-0) and Northwest Nazarene (11-3-1, 8-2-1).

Last week, WWU split a pair of GNAC road games, rallying for a 2-1 victory at Montana State Billings and losing 2-0 at Northwest Nazarene.

Freshman midfielder Luke Olney (Enumclaw) tops the Vikings in both points with 12 and in assists with four. He also has scored four goals, two of them game winners.

Olney and Derek Zimmerman (So., Pasco), a transfer from NCAA I St. Mary's CA, each scored in the MSUB won. The goal was the first of Zimmerman's collegiate career.

Hastings also has scored four goals for WWU and tops the team with three game winners.

Midfielder Jeremy Wentzel (Jr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway) has three goals and one assist, Zaccagnini, one goal and three assists; and Dan Anderson (Jr., Sandpoint, ID), two goals and one assist.

Rogers has a 1.27 goals against average with 52 saves (72.2 percentage) in 1,418 minutes. He has three shutouts this season and 15 during his four-year career, second in school history and three shy of the WWU record.

Olney, Hastings and defender Marcus Tinsley (Fr., Federal Way/Todd Beamer) have all earned GNAC Player of the Week honors this season for the Vikings, who are coached by Greg Brisbon (2nd year, 18-11-4).

SDSM is 1-14-0 overall and 0-11-0 in GNAC games, losing its last 10 games. WWU won 2-1 in overtime over the Hardrockers on Oct. 11 at Rapid City, South Dakota, and the Vikings are 3-0-0 in the series.

U-Mary, 4-7-2 overall and 3-7-1 in conference play, is 2-1-1 in its last four games prior to playing at Simon Fraser on Thursday. WWU took a 2-1 victory at Bismarck, North Dakota, on Oct. 9 and lead the series, 6-1-1.

NOTES: WWU is 5-3-0 on the road this season and 2-4-1 at home ... The Vikings have played five nationally ranked teams this season and are 1-3-1 in those contests ... Olney is the son of former Seattle Pacific soccer standout Reece Olney (1986-90).