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SALT LAKE CITY –The Westminster women's soccer team earned a No. 5 seed for this week's Unaffiliated Conference Tournament and will open with a game against fourth-seeded Minot State. Westminster will face Minot State on Wednesday, November 10 at 2 p.m. in a quarterfinal game. The tournament is hosted by Carroll College in Helena, Montana and features the top six ranked teams from the Frontier, Dakota, and Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conferences.
The winner of the Westminster versus Minot State game will face either Carroll or Bellevue in the semi-finals. The opponent will be determined with the outcome of the Rocky Mountain versus York College game on Wednesday. If Rocky wins, the Westminster/Minot State winner will face Carroll. If York wins, The Westminster game winner will play Bellevue in the semi-finals. The semi-finals will be played on Thursday, November 11 with the championship game on Friday, November 12 at 1 p.m.
Westminster finished the regular season with a 10-7-1 overall record and was third in the Frontier Conference with a 3-3 record. The 10 wins are the most in school history for a single season. They haven't played since a 3-1 loss at Carroll on October 24. Westminster went 2-0 in neutral field games this season and 3-5-1 in road games.
The meeting with Minot State will be the first meeting between the two teams in school history. Westminster went 2-3-1 in games against opponents they were facing for the first time this season. The Griffins have also never faced Bellevue or York in the program's history. They are 1-6-1 all-time against Carroll and 3-7 against Rocky.
Unaffiliated Conference Tournament
The tournament will take place Wednesday, November 10, 2010 through Friday, November 12, 2010 at Carroll College's Nelson Stadium in Helena, Montana. The winner of this tournament will receive an automatic berth to the NAIA National Tournament, to begin November 20th at a site to be determined. Carroll is the No. 1 seed and along with No. 2 seeded Bellevue will have a first round bye. No. 3 Rocky Mountain will play No. 6 York while No. 4 Minot State will play No. 5 Westminster in the quarterfinals. The lowest remaining seed will play Carroll in the semi-finals with the highest remaining seed facing Bellevue.
There will be no Live Stats or Live Video available for the tournament.
Scouting Minot State
Minot State is the No. 4 seed at the tournament after finishing with a 9-6-3 record. They have won two straight including a 3-0 win over Great Falls on October 29 in the team's last game. Ashley Goheen leads the Beavers with 14 points behind five goals and four assists. Tara McPartmand has scored five goals with one assist for 11 points. Tatyanny Griffiths has added four goals. Holly Chrisope has a 1.31 GAA with 31 saves is 10 games between the pipes for Minot State.
Series Record: First meeting
Receiving Votes
On September 28, Westminster received one point in the NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll. It was the first time in school history the team had received any points in the weekly poll. After receiving no votes in the October 5 poll, Westminster again received one point in the polls released on October 12 and 19.
Tournament History
This is the third consecutive season that Westminster has been invited to postseason action. They lost to Carroll in the Frontier Conference championship game last season after a 1-0 win over Rocky Mountain in the semi-finals. Westminster lost to Rocky 1-0 in the semi-finals of the 2008 tournament.
All or Nothing
Westminster has either recorded a shutout or been shutout in 13 of the 20 games they have played this season. The Griffins posted nine shutouts to rank ninth in the NAIA. In reverse, Westminster has been shutout five times this season. The Griffins won just two games in which they allowed a goal and lost three games that they scored in.
Record Year
Sophomore goalkeeper
Lindsay Bekken is having a record setting season between the pipes for the Griffins. Bekken has already set a school record with 10 wins this season. She currently has a 0.96 GAA which would be the best average in team history for a single season. Her eight shutouts are also the most in a season at Westminster. She ranks third in school history with 68 saves and second with an average of 3.78 saves per contest.
National Recognition
Lindsay Bekken was named the NAIA Defensive Player of the Week for the week of September 5-11. Bekken became the first Griffin women's soccer player to win the national honor, and the first from the Frontier Conference. For the week, Bekken recorded back-to-back shutouts last week as Westminster defeated No. 10 Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) on Sept. 10 and Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) on Sept. 12 both by scores of 1-0. She had four saves against Point Loma and a trio of blocks against Embry-Riddle. In 300 minutes played in the box, the sophomore goalie had 12 saves and allowed just one goal in a 1-0 loss to Saint Thomas (Fla.).
Looking Ahead
The field for the 32-team NAIA National Championships will be announced by 7 p.m. on November 14. There will be 25-26 automatic berths with six or seven at-large invites to the tournament. The opening round is slated for Saturday, November 20.