Clark women’s soccer team defeated Whatcom Community College 6-1 Saturday, securing a spot in the NWAC semifinals next Friday at the Starfire Stadium in Tukwila.
The game was tied early after goals by Clark’s Madison Ochoa — with an assist by Rylee MacDonald — and Whatcom’s Payton Lunde, both in the first six minutes. The game turned in the Penguins’ favor after Facienne Graham scored a goal in the 6th minute, assisted by MacDonald and Maddison Maffeo, and it was all Clark scoring from then on.
This will be the team’s first time in the NWAC semifinals, having lost to the North Idaho Cardinals in last year’s playoffs after an undefeated season.
“The sophomores on the team knew how disappointed we were last year at not advancing,” head coach Sean Janson said. “So our goal from the beginning was to get to this game and win it.”
In the semifinals, Clark will face Highline Community College, which beat the Penguins 2-0 in the 2015 NWAC quarterfinals.
“We’re pretty familiar with them,” Janson said. “They’ve been one of the top programs in the league for a while, so we know that it will be a challenge.”
Janson said they will start training to beat the Thunderbirds next week by studying their game film. “We’ll [see] what advantages we can take and what deficiencies we think we have,” he said. “We’ll plan our attack from there.”
The Penguins finished the regular season with an 11-0-1 record, taking the NWAC South division title for the second year in a row.
