BELLINGHAM, Wash.  – The Central Washington University women's soccer team fell to No. 17 Western Washington University (6-2-0, 2-0-0), 2-0.
 
"We should be totally disappointed with ourselves," CWU Head Coach Michael Farrand said.  "It's a rivalry game for us, we've played fantastic here before, and I thought we had a decent week of training.  We had a fantastic training this morning.  But when you sit back and let people dribble at us and let people go at us, we deserve what we got tonight.  Against a quality team like Western, they can punish you for it and they did.  We have to do more in terms of what we do and how we do it.  We went away from everything that has worked well for us tonight."
 
The Wildcats (3-4-0, 1-1-0) surrendered goals within the first six minutes of each half, but were able to hold the Vikings off the score sheet in subsequent minutes.
 
Western's offense began sending a cannonade of shots towards goal in just the second minute.  They had taken three shots in the opening five minutes, before Karli White cut towards the interior of the pitch from the left wing and buried her shot from the top of the 18 for a 1-0 lead.
 
Emily Thomson made her first save in the ninth minute, grabbing a shot from Peyton Chick.  She was called on again in the 17^th minute, keeping a shot from Grace Eversaul out. 
 
In the 20^th minute, the Vikings nearly extended their advantage.  A shot from Darby Doyle nearly crept over the goal line, but Kylee Dillon was able to sweep the ball off the line to preserve the 1-0 score line.  Seven minutes later, the Wildcats swept a second ball off the goal line.
 
Sophia Keenan took the Wildcats' only shot of the game in the 36^th minute.  Her shot whistled just over the crossbar, narrowly missing the equalizer.
 
A shot from Jenna Killman in the 36^th minute was turned aside by Thomson for her third save of the evening.  After a flurry of shots from the Vikings went wide, Thomson made another save in the 42^nd minute on a shot from Darby Doyle.
 
At halftime, Western led 1-0 and led in shots 18-1.  The Vikings also led in corners, 7-0.  Thomson made four saves in the first half.
 
The second half started much the same as the first half.  Western took control in the early seconds and never looked back.  They fired a quick volley of shots in the first three minutes, before picking up a brace in the 51^st minute. 
 
Following a corner kick, the loose ball caromed around the box and was picked up by Eversaul.  Her shot clipped the post and careened over the line for the brace.
 
Thomson was called on in the 59^th minute to make another stop.  She turned aside a shot from Dayana Diaz.  Thomson then kept out consecutive shots in the 79^th and 80^th minutes, from Estera Levinte and Doyle. Her save int he 80^th minute was a diving effort to keep the game within reach.  Her final save of the evening came in the 90^th minute on another shot from Levinte.
 
The Wildcats did not receive a corner kick, while Western took 13.  The Vikings took 32 shots in total.  Thomson finished with eight saves.
 
Central Washington is back at home on Saturday (Oct. 5) as they host Saint Martin's University at Tomlinson Stadium.  Kick-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.