Sun shining brightly on SPU women's soccer team

When the Seattle Pacific University women's soccer team reached the NCAA Division II Final Four in 2005, the Falcons traveled to the not-so-exciting town of Wichita Falls, Texas, where they finished second after a 2-1 overtime loss to Nebraska-Omaha in the national championship game.

"It was kind of a bummer," SPU coach Chuck Sekyra said of the whole experience.

This year, Seattle Pacific is back in the Final Four. But this time the Falcons are in Orange Beach, Ala., a lavish resort community located 20 miles west of Pensacola, Fla.

"My players are in heaven!" Sekyra wrote Tuesday in an e-mail from the team's beachside condominium. "I'm sitting on a balcony with my assistant coaches overlooking white sand, the Gulf of Mexico, and my team standing in the water up to their knees."

It's been a paradise season for SPU so far. The Falcons are ranked second in the country, owners of a 23-0 record, and on Thursday they'll face Franklin Pierce (17-1-5) for a shot at the national title game. Top-ranked Grand Valley State (21-0-1) of Michigan plays Tampa (18-2-2) in the other semifinal.

The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at the Orange Beach Sportsplex.

Sekyra said the Falcons are bringing a championship-or-bust mentality to the Deep South this week, but they're also planning on making the most of their sun-soaked vacation time.

"I want it to be fun," he said. "These kids are all business when the whistle blows, but I want them to enjoy every second of the fact that we're one of the top four teams in the nation."

Seven starters from this year's club played in the '05 title game, and, if the Falcons win on Thursday, they can draw from that stinging loss.

"I think it's good that we had that experience," senior forward Sarah Martinez said. "I know what it's like to be there and to lose. It's just more motivation."

Martinez has been one of many bright spots for the Falcons this season. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference's career leader in goals (49) and points scored (120), Martinez has 17 goals and nine assists this year and once again led the league in points (43).

Midfielder Meredith Teague dished out 16 assists, good for tops in the conference, while keeper Jesslyn Rahm led the GNAC with a 0.38 goals against average.

There's also forward Jocelyn Charette, a sophomore from Lakewood who has seven goals and three assists and scored two goals in the first four minutes of the Falcons' quarterfinal win over San Antonio's Incarnate Word. Last year, Charette had 21 goals and nine assists to help lead Tampa to the Final Four. She transferred to SPU after the season, and now a potential matchup against her former team looms Saturday.

"I'm excited for them, and if we play them in the final, we play them in the final," Charette said of her former Tampa teammates. "But I just really want to win it all."

And the Falcons believe they can do just that -- "If we go out and play our best we know we can beat any team in the country," Rahm said -- but they also feel like the key to victory is keeping a level head. They know from experience that anything can happen at the Final Four.

So they might as well enjoy themselves while they're there.

"It's for business, but at the same time this is fun," Martinez said. "We're all going to be focused on soccer, but having that nice little beach break definitely can't do any harm."

And it probably won't hurt the tan, either.