It remains the most perfect kick Caitlyn Jobanek, who played four years of soccer at Western and three in Europe, has ever seen. Eight years later, she still gets goosebumps. The kick wasn’t even hers. It was Western teammate Emily Webster’s, and it happened in the 76th minute of the 2016 NCAA Division II championship game, score tied 2-2 against Grand Valley State.
Webster, who starred at Sehome High and now coaches there, lined up the free kick from more than 30 yards out and launched her trademark left-footed shot. It soared, carrying all the hopes and expectations of those in Viking uniforms, past the keeper’s desperately outstretched fingers and between the right upright and crossbar before settling into the net. Goal, Western. Minutes later, the 2016 national title was Western’s, too, the first for the program.
An inch one way or another, and the shot would likely not have gone in.
“Honestly, it was a textbook free kick,” said Jobanek, who happened to score two goals in that game but never mentioned them in an interview Saturday during Western Hall of Fame ceremonies honoring the national champion 2016 and 2022 women’s soccer teams. “You just couldn’t get any better: upper V, over the goalkeeper … Everyone knew she was going to make that free kick. She’s been practicing it all season.”
It goes back even further. Webster remembers practicing them on Western’s recreation field and scoring with them at Sehome High, where she was an all-conference midfielder, helping the Mariners win a state title in 2010 under Sehome coach Andria Fountain, who played for Western.
“It kind of comes full circle to Sehome, getting to take free kicks here and now, that I coach at Sehome,” she said.
In her fourth season as head coach, her players don’t necessarily know Webster’s accomplishments at the university just down the road.
“I’ve used some clips of examples of what a good free kick can look like from when I was playing, but I do not outwardly tell them my history,” said Webster, who teaches physical education at Columbia Elementary and two education classes at Western. “Part of me wants to just be a good coach, you know, outside of my playing experience. And then it helps when I hop into a drill and I can do the things that I’m saying, (and) what it should look like.”
Sehome players are getting the benefit of the collective knowledge of Western coaches, like 28-year head coach Travis Connell and those 2016 assistants Jamie Arthurs, Claire Morgan and Joana Houplin, among others.
“The coaching staff here is so knowledgeable, and so a lot of my practice planning is around the things that I learned from Travis and other coaches that I had in the past,” Webster said.
Sehome players are also getting the benefit of a coach who knows what it’s like to pull off perfection. Even if she doesn’t talk about it.
Kids can learn to bump, set, spike Saturday
Have a budding libero, setter, middle blocker or outside hitter in the household?
Youths in eighth grade or younger can participate in a free WWU volleyball clinic from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 12 at Carver Gym. Those who come get a free ticket for that night’s match. It’s the second in a series of four clinics, taught by the WWU volleyball program’s student-athletes and coaches, held before every Saturday home match in the 2024 season. No registration necessary. Free parking is available in the C lots on campus.
BY THE NUMBERS
4 – match win streak by Western’s volleyball team (5-6 overall, 4-1 GNAC) heading into a two-match homestand starting Thursday, Oct. 10. After a 1-6 start, the Vikings are tied for second place with Simon Fraser in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference
34 – digs in six sets for volleyball’s junior outside hitter Devyn Oestreich, named GNAC defensive player of the week. Oestreich’s digs came as the Vikings went 2-0 in sweeping both Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon last week
72.6 – scoring average for sophomore golfer Christopher Zamani over the season’s first three tournaments. Zamani was named GNAC golfer of the week after finishing sixth at the WWU Invitational with a 6-under 210 at Bellingham Golf & Country Club
7 – ties for Western soccer teams in just 17 games so far this season following the women’s 1-1 game with Western Oregon Saturday, Oct. 5 at Harrington Field and the men’s 2-2 result with Seattle Pacific later that day in Seattle’s Interbay Stadium
3 – consecutive games without a goal for the men’s soccer team (0-1-1 GNAC, 2-3-3 overall) until that Seattle Pacific game, when Frank Miedema scored on a header from a Reiley Buri-Brown free kick from 50 yards. Albin Jonsson scored in the 80th minute to knot the score.
9 – shots on goal for the women’s soccer team (2-0-2 GNAC, 3-2-4 overall) to just 2 by Western Oregon in the Vikings’ 1-1 tie. Senior forward Kyrsten McGuffey scored her first Western goal on a cross from Halle Noel in the first half but WOU tied it with a penalty kick in the 77th minute.
IN VIKING HISTORY
Oct. 25, 1994 – Western’s men’s ice hockey team prepares to better last year’s 7-3 record under coach Dan Wagner by tightening its defense in front of strong goalkeeper Dave Stark and adding to an already speedy offense. The first line of center Paul Rogness and wingers Jay Ilgenfritz and Scott Reid were the team’s most productive last season. Returners Paul Houg and Peter Sherer, along with Marty Brueggemann lead the defense. “We’re going to have a hard-hitting, fast-paced year,” Brueggemann said. “We should definitely be undefeated this season.”
BEST BETS
Thursday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m. – Men’s soccer vs. Northwest Nazarene, Bellingham; 7 p.m. – volleyball vs. Seattle Pacific, Bellingham
Saturday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m. – Volleyball vs. Montana State University-Billings, Bellingham
Thursday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m. – Women’s soccer at Montana State University-Billings, Bellingham
Saturday, Oct. 19, 4 p.m. – Men’s soccer vs. MSU-Billings, Bellingham; 7 p.m. – women’s soccer vs. Simon Fraser, Bellingham
Tickets. See wwuvikings.com/Tickets or in person one hour prior to game time.
Parking. Free for sports. For volleyball, lot 19G for general audience; 9G for season ticket holders. For soccer, C lots on south campus. See the map at wwu.edu/parking.
Can’t make it? Stream it
All home games are streamed via a live and free YouTube webcast. Find links online at cascadiadaily.com.
If you have a smart TV, search for “WWU Athletics” on YouTube.
We want to hear from you
Got a WWU sports-related news tip or interesting item for this notebook, or a good story idea? We’re all ears. Send to newstips@cascadiadaily.com, subject line: WWU sports notebook
Meri-Jo Borzilleri is a freelance journalist and former 20-year sports reporter.
