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TUKWILA (Nov. 7) -- The first post-season women's soccer match for Central Washington University since 1997 will be against a familiar foe, as the second-seeded Wildcats (11-5-1) line up against third-seeded Seattle Pacific University (13-5-0) in the semifinal round of the 2013 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Championship on Thursday afternoon at the Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. Game time is 4 p.m.

CWU, which swept the regular-season series from SPU with identical 1-0 wins, has not qualified for the post-season in women's soccer in 16 years. The only previous playoff contest in the program's 27-year history was a 3-1 loss to Simon Fraser University (B.C.) in the Pacific Northwest Athletic Conference championship match on Nov. 8, 1997.

The winner of the CWU-Seattle Pacific match will play the winner of Thursday's 7 p.m. match between fourth-seeded Western Oregon University and top-seeded Western Washington University for the tournament championship on Saturday (Nov. 9) at 1 p.m. Saturday's tournament winner will secure the GNAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II tournament.

This year's CWU squad has turned in the best single-season defensive effort in program history. The 15 goals allowed in 17 matches to date are the fewest since CWU began sponsoring women's soccer in 1987. Junior goalkeeper KAYLA LIPSTON (Federal Way/Decatur HS) has recorded five shutouts, a 0.79 goals-against average, and a .853 save percentage in 13 starts this season.

Offensively, junior midfielders DANIELLE BRANDLI (Bellevue/Interlake HS) and SAVANNA MOOREHOUSE (Bonney Lake) lead the Wildcats with nine and six goals, respectively. Brandli has scored the last two CWU goals -- against Western Washington University on Oct. 31 in a 2-1 loss and then the lone goal in the Wildcats' 1-0 win over Seattle Pacific last Saturday. Moorehouse has four assists -- second-highest on the team -- and a team-leading 59 shot attempts this season. Both players, along with senior defender TARAH DUTY (Black Diamond/Tahoma HS), were named to the all-GNAC first team earlier this week. Duty, who earned first-team all-GNAC honors for the second straight year, leads CWU with six assists in 2013.

CWU is aiming to match the single-season school record for victories with a win on Thursday against the Falcons. The Wildcats have reached the 12-win plateau three times previously -- in 1997, 1998, and in head coach Michael Farrand's first season in Ellensburg in 2000.

The Wildcats' semifinal opponent, Seattle Pacific, has been one of the team's primary nemeses since the Falcons added women's soccer prior to the 2001 season. SPU has a 20-4-2 all-time advantage in the series, with two of Central Washington's four series wins coming this year.