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This Week
Westminster heads for Hawaii to play three games in four days. The Griffins will face Hawaii Pacific on Thursday, August 27. That is followed on Saturday, August 29, with a game against Brigham Young-Hawaii. The trip concludes on Sunday, August 30, as the Griffins face Chaminade.

These three games will take the Griffins to five consecutive games to open the season against teams from the NCAA affiliation. These three teams are all NCAA DII teams, while the first two Westminster opponents were NCAA DI teams. The Griffins have never defeated a NCAA team in the program's history.

The Griffins will carry a 0-2 record with them to the islands. They dropped a 2-1 decision against Weber State last Friday. Westminster led 1-0 in the game before Weber scored the game's final two goals to get the victory.

Live Stats
Live stats are not available for the games at Hawaii Pacific and BYU-Hawaii. Live stats will be available for the game at Chaminade on August 30. You can access those live stats at westminstergriffins.com and clicking on the Live Stats link.

Text Updates
You can now receive free text message updates of all Westminster contests. Just visit westminstergriffins.com and click the SMS Text link, enter your information and you are set. You will then receive a text message with the result of every Westminster contest.

First Kick
• This is the first time that Westminster has started a season 0-2.

• The Griffins are now 1-10-1 away from Dumke Field over the last two seasons.

• With the two losses this year, Westminster is now 0-4 all-time in games against teams from the state of Utah.

Scouting Hawaii Pacific
Hawaii Pacific will open the 2009 season when they face the Griffins on Thursday. HPU's Jamie Hirai was named preseason all-conference for the Sea Warriors. Hirai had six points in 16 starts during 2008. HPU was predicted to finish sixth in the Pac West this season.
Series Record: First Meeting

Scouting BYU-Hawaii
BYU-Hawaii faces Upper Iowa prior to their game with the Griffins. BYU-Hawaii finished 2008 with an 8-4 record and was 4-3 in the Pac West Conference. They were voted as the top team in the conference for 2009 by the conference coaches. Emily Means returns for the Seasiders after posting 25 points and being named First Team All-Conference last season.
Series Record: First Meeting

Scouting Chaminade
Chaminade will also face Upper Iowa prior to facing Westminster this weekend. Chaminade went just 1-15 in 2008 and were 0-12 in the Pac West Conference. They have been predicted for a ninth place finish in the nine team conference again this year. Marisa Faye was chosen as a preseason all-conference defender.
Series Record: First Meeting

Forward Notebook
Westminster forwards Megan Maldonado and Sarah Swenson has combined for five shots, including four on target. The other starting forward, Maddie Spere, has yet to attempt a shot.

Off the bench, Tanisia Wilson has one shot attempt in her 97 minutes played. Alyssa Hill played has played 18 minutes this season without attempting a shot.

Midfield Notebook
Much of the Griffin pressure has come from their midfield so far in 2009. Heather Hillam has scored the lone goal of the season and Vanessa Jordan has the only assist. Hillam and Jordan are tied for the team lead with three shot attempts and have combined for five shots on goal.

Nicole Taylor has recorded two shots and fellow midfielder Corie Walch has one. Walch tallied the only goal of the exhibition game against Northwest Nazarene. Rachel Watson has played 104 minutes this season without a shot from the Griffin midfield.

Defense Notebook
The Westminster back line has been solid for much of the first two games. They held Weber State to just one shot on goal during the second half of that contest. Brinna Bennion and Elaina Pappas have played all 180 minutes this year.

Michelle Erickson has played 159 minutes in her two starts. Lindsay Judd has played 140 minutes off the bench in her first two collegiate games.

Goalkeeper Notebook
Lindsay Bekken has seen the most action through the first two games. Bekken suffered the loss against Utah Valley after allowing two goals. She played the second half against Weber State without allowing a goal and recording three saves. Bekken has a goals against average of 1.33 so far this season.

Dayna Winter-Nolte suffered the loss against Weber State after allowing two first half goals. Winter-Nolte made two saves in her 45 minutes but had a save percentage of .500 and now has a GAA of 4.00.

Set Pieces
The Griffins have been real good on set pieces through their opening two games. The Griffins scored the first goal of the season when Heather Hillam headed a Vanessa Jordan corner kick into the back of the net against Weber State.

“We have been working on set plays,” head coach Tony LeBlanc said. “They are great opportunities to score and we have been focusing on that.”

Unaffiliated Information
The Dakota Athletic Conference, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, and Frontier Conference will combine to offer one automatic bid to the NAIA National Championships in 2009. The top-4 teams in this group will advance to the Unaffiliated Conference Tournament with the winner receiving the automatic berth.

Next Week
Westminster is back on Dumke Field as they play two games over Labor Day Weekend. The Griffins will face Kansas Wesleyan on Sunday, September 6, and play Great Falls on Monday, September 8, in Frontier Conference action. Kansas Wesleyan and Great Falls will play each other on Saturday, September 5 on Dumke Field.