ROHNERT PARK, Calif-  Western Washington's Emily Frankland had a goal and an assist, including the game-winner in the 87th minute, to lead the Vikings past Sonoma State 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in Rohnert Park.  The win lifts the Vikings to 3-1-0 on the year while the Seawolves finally see a blemish on their record, falling to 4-1-0.

Sonoma State head coach Luke Oberkirch said after the match, "You need to have a very good performance to beat a team like Western Washington.  We just had a good performance."

In an up-and-down game with plenty of counter attacks and scoring opportunities, Western Washington would break through first when, in the 25th minute, Claire Morgan scored off a Frankland assist. 

Sonoma State would tie things up ten minutes later when Taylor Colacion lobbed one into Tracy Webster, who beat the keeper.  It was the third goal of the season for Webster, a junior from Sebastopol. 

Both teams had opportunities to score in the second half, but the goalkeepers played well and the defenses did a nice job of keeping the ball out of the net.  SSU had several point-blank chances in the first half, only to be denied by WWU goalkeeper Kylie Broadbent, who tied SSU's Courtney Grixti with three saves in the game.

Said Oberkirch, "We really needed to find that second goal.  We had some opportunities, but couldn't get it in the net."

The winning score came on somewhat of a scramble in front of the net.  Frankland emerged with the ball, then poked it past Grixti, to give the Vikings a one-goal lead with just 3:26 to play in regulation.  The Seawolves were unable to find the equalizer in the waning moments.

"They (WWU) just played better than we did in the second half," commented Oberkirch. 

WWU had a decisive edge in shots, 14-5 overall and 8-1 in the second half, but the game was played much closer than that number would indicate. 

The Seawolves will now prepare for their CCAA opener, on Sunday at Cal State Stanislaus.

Box Score