MSUB Women's Soccer GNAC Team of the Week

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Monday, November 2, 2015 Yellowjacket women named GNAC Team of the Week after clinching GNAC berth

Needing a win on Saturday, MSUB’s women’s soccer team delivers and is named the GNAC Team of the Week after clinching the fourth and final berth into the GNAC Championships.

PORTLAND Ore. – With time winding down in the second overtime period of a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s soccer match in Portland, Concordia University forward Bobbi Eckler finally broke through on her ninth shot of the match and scored the game-winning goal to stun the Montana State University Billings women’s soccer team.

The 1-0 setback was the fourth loss in five matches for the Yellowjackets, and the once-promising notion of a berth into the GNAC Championship tournament for a second year in-a-row had suddenly become distant and bleak.

Overcoming the odds however, MSUB found a way into the conference tournament and has been selected as the GNAC Team of the Week announced on Monday.

“It is awesome to win the Team of the Week award, and it just continues the theme from the weekend in which everything worked in our favor,” commented MSUB head coach Wojtek Krakowiak. “The team deserves this because they truly battled through the final four games of the season and put together some very good performances. The team

knew what it had to do before going into the weekend and thankfully we were able to get the final win we needed against Central to get us into the tournament.”

With only two games remaining on MSUB’s schedule, it was all-or-nothing the rest of the way. The ‘Jackets had to find a way to defeat Western Oregon on the road, and then beat Central Washington at home on Senior Day just to have a chance to make the tournament.

A far cry from the sinking feeling of defeat MSUB experienced on Oct. 22 in the heartbreaking loss to the Cavaliers, there was a simultaneous roar of excitement and joy on Saturday evening from the team. After defeating CWU 1-0 earlier that day, the ‘Jackets collectively watched the final piece of the complicated playoff puzzle fall into place.

MSUB had done its job winning its final two matches, but still needed help from Western Oregon against Simon Fraser. The Clan sat three points behind MSUB playing in their final match, but held a tiebreaker that would earn them the fourth and final GNAC berth with a win over the Wolves.

As the evening match kicked off in Burnaby, British Columbia, the site of the 2015 GNAC Championships, MSUB gathered at its year-end banquet. The focus of the evening was to celebrate the season and honor the team’s four graduating seniors but throughout the room cell phones half-concealed underneath tables displayed the live statistics of the match that would determine MSUB’s fate.

Bailey Griglio (2), Jessica Spang (3), and Teegan Koster (22) congratulate Alycia Wright after her decisive goal in the 49th minute against Central Washington on Saturday.

The first roar from the ‘Jackets came in the 54th minute, when WOU pulled ahead with a goal. Even a draw would suffice and push MSUB through to the tournament, but the buzz quickly turned to a collective groan as the Clan equalized less than 30 seconds later.

The sun began to set at Terry Fox Field, and soon darkness engulfed the stadium as the match wore on and the waiting continued. ‘How long could Western Oregon hold off the Clan?’ the ‘Jackets wondered. ‘Would the drive of hosting the conference tournament be enough to will SFU to victory?’

Full time arrived, and the score remained at 1-1. In Billings, MSUB’s banquet began wrapping up and players, coaches, and families alike abandoned the charade of ignoring the game.

A slideshow that had just scrolled through the top memories of the 2015 season on a projector screen was replaced by the video stream of the penultimate match of interest. This was it: The Yellowjackets were about to find out if they needed to pack their bags for another road trip.

Ten minutes of overtime felt like an hour as MSUB continued to await its fate. Into the 107th minute, and chatter of a draw began to surface. A foul by SFU right on the edge of the goal box set up a free kick for the Wolves, and as the shot curled past the wall and into the net, MSUB’s ticket was punched to the very field their eyes were trained to.

Pandemonium. Somehow, some way, the Yellowjackets had found a way to return to the GNAC tournament for the second year in-a-row and third time in last four seasons.

There were heroes along the way; Brittney Greenback scoring her first career goal as the game-winner at Western Oregon and freshman Alycia Wright scoring her team-best sixth goal and GNAC-best fourth game-winner against Central Washington. There was a true freshman at goalkeeper in Chloe Hopps, playing at a skill level well beyond her years and more often than not keeping her team in matches.

There was a four-year starter, senior captain, and one of the best in MSUB history in Katlyn Lokay piloting the team as a center back.

Now the ‘Jackets get set to face top-seeded Western Washington University on Thursday with an 8 p.m. Mountain time kickoff. The winner will advance to the tournament title game, as MSUB did in the inaugural event in 2012, for a chance to claim the GNAC’s automatic berth into the NCAA West Region Championships.

The women’s soccer team is the second from MSUB to be picked as the GNAC Team of the Week this year, joining the Yellowjackets’ men’s soccer team after a pair of big wins against Northwest Nazarene and Concordia.

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