State Colleges notebook: UW's Chabala has field day out on road

After opening the season with five consecutive road matches, the Washington men's soccer team is happy to be home.

Mike Chabala, though, made himself at home on the road.

The senior defensive midfielder deserves much of the credit for the Huskies winning four of their five, including three straight. Chabala, a co-captain, leads Washington with two goals and three assists. His seven points are more than half as many as he scored all last year.

Washington, ranked 24th nationally, is still riding high after its dramatic come-from-behind victory Sunday at a tournament in Denver. Down 2-0 with eight minutes to play, the Huskies scored three goals to defeat Air Force 3-2.

Their only loss was to nationally ranked Creighton, a match the Huskies played with a defense depleted by injuries.

Washington hopes to carry that momentum into its home debut this weekend. It hosts the Husky Fever Classic on Friday and Sunday.

Chabala has been a model of consistency for Washington, having played in every match since his freshman year and started all but one match since his sophomore season. He credits his soaring scoring to experience and confidence.

Pick of the week


Men's soccer

Washington vs. Wisconsin, at Husky Soccer Field, Friday, 7 p.m.

The scoop: Portland opens Husky Fever Classic vs. Hartwick at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Sunday's schedule: Portland-Wisconsin, 11 a.m. and UW-Harwick, 1:30 p.m.

"I'm more comfortable going forward and being able to track back," Chabala said. "I'm fit. I'm definitely getting more opportunities as well but I'm finding the right times to go forward, whereas before I'd be conservative, keep the ball and try to just do one job. Now I can do a little more."

Chabala adds that he's not the only player home fans will see a major improvement from this weekend.

"I have to give credit to these guys. They are stepping it up from all over the field," Chabala said. "We're having subs that are coming on and playing great. Our key guys are playing exceptionally well. Having everything come together on the road is great because adding the advantage of playing at home, we'll be that much better."

Other UW sports

Cross country: The UW men's team title at the Sundodger Invitational on Saturday is testament to the team's depth in 2005. The Huskies rested their top four returning runners, allowing redshirt freshmen and sophomores to carry them to their meet-record fourth-straight win.

Women's soccer: Junior Kelsey Rasmussen (Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma) has averaged 5.6 saves per game for the Huskies (0-6-2). She is on pace for 112 saves, which would eclipse the UW season record of 106.

Volleyball: Junior setter Courtney Thompson (Kentlake) leads the nation with 15.19 assists per game, and sophomore middle blocker Alesha Deesing (Salem, Ore.) is No. 1 with a .547 hitting percentage for No. 2 Washington.

Seattle Pacific

Cross country: Without Meredith Crane (Davis of Yakima), who finished seventh in the NCAA I section, the SPU women took third overall in the Sundodger Invitational open section.

Men's soccer: After playing seven of the first nine on the road, No. 7 SPU (6-1-2) begins a four-game homestand tonight at Interbay, where the Falcons have won five straight.

Women's soccer: Heidi Jacobson (Cedar Park Christian of Bothell) is the GNAC leader with seven goals, but 10 different players have goals or assists in the last eight scores for No. 2 SPU (8-0).

Volleyball: SPU is off to its best conference start (9-3, 3-0 GNAC) in five seasons and plays its next two at home.

Seattle U.

Cross country: Casey Moriarty's (O'Dea of Seattle) time of 24 minutes, 7 seconds at Saturday's Sundodger Invitational was the second-fastest 8,000 meters in GNAC history.

Volleyball: Not only did Sarah Sommerman (Kentridge) break SU's school record for career kills two weeks ago, but last weekend she became just the seventh player in GNAC history with 1,200 career kills.

Women's soccer: Four of the top five scorers in 2005 are sophomores — Ashley Porter (Inglemoor of Kenmore), Leah Wymer (Bothell), Jasmine Wilson (Kennedy of Burien) and Maryann Boddy (Seattle Prep).

Men's soccer: Bobby McAlister's (Kennedy) goal in Seattle U.'s 1-0 win over Grand Canyon on Sunday was his 15th career game-winning goal.

Washington St.

Cross country: Sophomore Haley Paul (Phoenix) won the Sundodger Invitational. It was Paul's first big-meet college win.

Volleyball: Jen Barcus (Lakeside of Nine Mile Falls), a junior middle blocker, is ninth in career block assists (264) and total blocks (296) at WSU.

Women's golf: All-American Anastasia Kostina (Nakhabino, Russia) earned her 13th career top-10 finish at the Oregon State Invitational last Saturday.

Women's tennis: Sophomore Ekaterina Burduli (Tel Aviv), ranked 45th, won the No. 1 singles title at last weekend's Cougar Classic in Pullman.

Women's soccer: Freshman Megan Hyte (North Kitsap of Poulsbo) recorded her fourth game-winning goal of the season in the Cougars' 1-0 victory over Virginia Commonwealth on Friday.

Western Washington

Football: WWU (1-3), which has a bye this week, has lost three straight games, all to nationally ranked teams. The Vikings' longest losing streak since Rob Smith became coach in 1989 is four.

Volleyball: Western's loss to No. 9 Central Washington on Saturday was just the third in 53 home matches since Diane Flick became the Vikings' coach in 2000.

Other colleges

Central Washington: Redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Reilly (Kalispell, Mont.) has better numbers in his first four college games than Jon Kitna (1992-95). Reilly passed for 1,089 yards and 11 touchdowns. Kitna, now in his 11th NFL season, had 977 yards and three TDs in his first four games.

Eastern Washington: Goalkeeper Tiera Como (East Valley of Spokane) was Big Sky Conference Soccer Defensive Player of the Week after registering eight saves in a 1-1 tie with Boise State last week. The junior is EWU's career leader in shutouts (seven) and saves (204).

Evergreen: Alisha White (Bremerton) had four goals and four assists in a 15-0 women's soccer win over Cascade for the Geoducks (5-0-1) on Sept. 10. The senior forward has eight goals and four assists this season.

Gonzaga: Sophomore striker Nanda McCormick (Shorewood of Shoreline) has three goals, two of them game-winners, and one assist for a team-leading seven points. McCormick returns to the Seattle area this weekend when the Bulldogs (4-2-1) face Washington on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Husky Soccer Field.

Northwest: The Eagles volleyball team, ranked 12th in NAIA, finished a season-opening month-long road schedule 13-0.

Pacific Lutheran: Kevin Murray's (Auburn Riverside) hat trick in Sunday's 4-2 men's soccer win over Pacific (Ore.) gave the senior midfielder a Northwest Conference-best six goals and 13 total points this season. He earned NWC Offensive Player of the Week.

Puget Sound: Cortney Kjar (Sandy, Utah) was named NWC Offensive Player of the Week after three goals Saturday and an assist Sunday.

Whitman: Freshman goalkeeper Brett Axelrod (Union City, N.J) made 10 saves and posted shutouts in his first two NWC games for the Missionaries (3-3, 2-0 NWC).

Whitworth: Junior tight end Michael Allen (Overlake of Redmond) caught five passes for 94 yards and three touchdowns in the Pirates' 43-28 win over LaVerne on Saturday. Two TDs came on fourth down.

Sports information directors

contributed to this notebook.