Who knew the Saints would rise?

THE OLYMPIAN | • Published November 05, 2009

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Don't ask Rob Walker about conference titles. Not yet at least.

Don’t bother the Saint Martin’s soccer coach about how his team recently clinched the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, the first in school history.

With one game to go, Walker has unfinished business. He’s only focused on Western Washington, the Saints’ opponent today.

“We haven’t done any celebrating yet,” Walker said. “We’re not focused on being a champion yet. We want to finish 7-1 in conference.”

SMU soccer, a 3-year-old program with no seniors on its roster, was picked to finish second to last by conference coaches in a preseason poll.

“I put us up a little higher,” Walker admitted. “But I didn’t put us in first. I wasn’t sure we had a dog in the hunt.”

Surprisingly, they did.

Saint Martin’s was ranked fifth in the latest NCAA regional poll. The top four teams advance to the playoffs. A GNAC title doesn’t guarantee a playoff berth. Seattle Pacific, a perennial power which lost twice to the Saints this season, is ranked sixth.

SMU, winner of five of its past six matches, is 11-6 overall and 6-1 in conference. But seven of its wins are by one goal.

“That’s how easy it could have gone the other way,” Walker said. “We’ve had some breaks come our way. You need all those things coming together.”

SMU beat Northwest Nazarene, 2-1, in its most recent game, with Vlad Voin scoring the winner in the closing minutes.

“I couldn’t have forecast this, but I’m sure glad it happened this way,” Walker said.

Saint Martin’s showed signs of promise last season when it went 5-3-1 in its last nine games and finished 6-11-1. Then SMU worked hard in the offseason and grew up a little.

Instead of having a lineup of 18-year-olds, SMU has a lineup of 20-year-olds.

“That helps,” Walker said. “Our players have done what me and assistant coach Dave Cross have asked them to do. That’s help. Dave has been a big help. He has good ideas and he’s a good listener.”

Walker, a 1987 graduate of Saint Martin’s, hopes to make it two straight victories today against Western Washington. Coming into the season, the Saints had lost all four of their matches with Western.

“They killed us prior to this year,” Walker said. “They’re a good team. They’ve played well the last four weeks. We expect a battle.”

Everyone expected Western to be good. Just not Saint Martin’s. At least, not this fast, not in the Saints’ third season.

Zac Lubin, Saint Martin’s junior goalkeeper, had 13 saves and allowed just two goals in a pair of 2-1 wins last week. Lubin was named GNAC player of the week. Lubin ranks second in the conference in save percentage at 72 percent and in saves at 3.71.

The Johnson mash

Big stage. Big game. Big performance.

At Qwest Field and against Portland State on Saturday, Matt Johnson intercepted four passes in one game, sparking Eastern Washington’s surprising 47-10 blowout football victory. Some safeties don’t intercept that many passes in a career.

But Matt Johnson, a rugged, two-way starter while at Tumwater High and now a sophomore at EWU, tied a Big Sky record with his four heists. Without much surprise, he’s the Big Sky Conference defensive player of the week. He was also named the Sports Network national defensive player of the week.

“We owed them payback from last year,” Johnson said. “I was pretty lucky I guess. I was just reading the quarterback. We mixed our coverage a lot.”

Johnson picked off three passes in the first half.

“His interceptions were what sparked us,” EWU coach Beau Baldwin said. “A year ago, they were throwing it all over the field against us and we weren’t able to make those plays.”

It’s the most interceptions by a player in a Big Sky game in 20 years. But it’s not an EWU record. Mark Cordes intercepted five passes against Boise State in 1986, a year before the Eagles joined the Big Sky.

“I never had more than two in a game before,” Johnson said. “I had a lot of family there at the game, so that made it even more special.”

Johnson has six interceptions this season, ranking him seventh in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. With two games to go, Johnson ranks sixth on EWU’s single season leaders list. With four interceptions as a freshman, Johnson has 10 overall and ranks eighth on EWU’s career list. The school’s career record is 18 set by Mike Richter (1971-75).

It’s the second straight week Johnson has come up with a huge game. In a 35-21 win against Montana State two weeks ago, Johnson had 14 tackles, a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery. His sack led to a turnover. His interception came at EWU’s 8-yard line. His fumble recovery set up a 15-yard touchdown pass with 32 seconds remaining.

Johnson is wearing his twin brother’s jersey number, No. 10. Zach Johnson, who started at linebacker last year as a freshman and led the team in tackles, missed this season because of a blood clot.

“Everyone says that because he’s wearing my number that’s what helped him,” Zach said with a laugh.

Gail Wood: 360-754-5443

gwood@theolympian.com