SPOKANE, Wash.—The Gonzaga University women's soccer squad will look to send its senior class out on a high note by hosting Pacific Northwest rival Portland at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 for both teams' regular season finales.
"It's an exciting week with our seniors' final match at Luger Field," said Gonzaga women's soccer head coach Amy Edwards. "This special senior class has left an incredible impact on Gonzaga Soccer."
Seven seniors will be playing their final match at Luger Field Saturday. Mikayla Anderson, Cassie Geerdts, Cricket Harber, Tori Lee, Katey Pennington, Kasey Rubosky, and Jordan Travis will all be graduating next May after four or more years on the squad. They will each be honored during a pre-game ceremony starting approximately 12:54 p.m.
Harber, Pennington, and Travis have covered three of the four spots along the Zags' backline all season and are a large part in why the Zags have allowed just 1.23 goals per match, the program's lowest goals-against average since 2007. Travis and Harber have played the third- and fourth-most minutes, respectively, of any Zag field player this season, while Pennington's played the most and also contributed heavily on offense, assisting four goals and scoring one herself for her first career tally.
On the offensive side, Lee has provided a scoring touch from the midfield this season. The Kirkland, Wash., native has netted a career-high four goals while assisting one more for nine total points. Up higher in the formation, Rubosky has tallied one score so far, but it was a big one as her goal against Pepperdine leveled the match against the 11th-ranked Waves, a contest that resulted in the Zags' first point off a ranked team since 2007. Anderson has added three goals and three assists apiece during her final campaign, including scoring the game winner at North Texas Sept. 19.
The Zags' only player with five years' experience, Geerdts finally made it back to the pitch after three knee surgeries over the last three years, and she started back with a bang by scoring the match winner at Cal State Bakersfield to open the season. She's scored one other goal and assisted on two more during her final year as a Zag forward.
With a 9-8-1 overall record and 4-3-1 West Coast Conference mark, the Zags have already guaranteed themselves a record of .500 or better in both competitions. This will be the squad's first season at .500 since 2007 and first WCC slate at the mark since 2005.
Gonzaga's opponent for Senior Day, the Portland Pilots, are 6-9-3 overall on the year and 3-4-1 in conference play. They recently took one point during the trip to the Bay Area, drawing San Francisco at 2-2 before falling to Santa Clara 1-0. Portland has struggled to find the net a bit this season, averaging just 0.94 goals per contest while allowing 1.33 to opponents. Danica Evans leads the team with seven goals and 17 points while Tayler Luty and Hannah De Haan have both played consistent minutes in goal. Luty's earned more playing time between the two, allowing 15 goals during 12 matches, while De Haan has tallied a better goals-against average at 1.22 and save percentage at 82.0%.
Live stats for the match may be found on the women's soccer schedule page of www.GoZags.com and theW.tv will stream the match live.
