SEATTLE -- In 90 minutes Thursday, the Falcons fortunes faded.
Kellan Brown blasted in the rebound of a deflected shot 6-1/2 minutes into the game, then put in the rebound of his own missed penalty kick early in the second half, powering Western Washington to a 4-0 victory against Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer game at Interbay Stadium.
The loss dashed the Falcons' conference title hopes and dealt a severe blow to their playoff aspirations.
“I'm at a complete loss,” second-year SPU coach Mark Collings said. “With the playoffs on the line there was no effort tonight, it just wasn't there. Once again, we give up bad goals and it hurts us.”
Thursday's result in Seattle clinched at least a tie for the conference crown for Saint Martin's, which improved to 5-1 with a 2-1 double-overtime victory at Montana State Billings earlier in the day. The Saints have a first-place total of 15 points.
The Falcons, 10-5-3 overall, are now 3-3-1 with 10 points in GNAC play and have just one game remaining.
Defending GNAC champion Western Washington (6-11-0, 3-3-0 GNAC) can still tie for the title with the right combination of results.
The SPU setback came at the hands of an alum. Travis Connell became the first coach in WWU men's soccer history to win 100 games. He was a four-year Falcons' letterman from 1991-95.
The visiting Vikings got on the board at the 6:34 mark when Brendan Quilici took a shot that bounced off an SPU defender. The ball caromed out to Brown, who was 23 yards from the goal to the left of the penalty area restraining arc. Brown let fly with a shot that sailed into the back left corner.
Brown netted his second goal of the game, and his team-leading ninth of the season, after he was tripped in the box and awarded a penalty kick. Freshman backup goalkeeper Zach Johnson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) dove to his left and made the save. But the ball was still loose, and Brown ran up to it and tucked in the rebound at 56:27 for a 3-0 advantage.
Oscar Jimenez also scored for Western, making it 2-0 at 40:18. His 40-yard blast was initially stopped by Falcons' starting goalkeeper Kaleb Kuehn (Marysville, Wash./Marysville-Pilchuck HS). But the ball went off of Kuehn's hands and trickled inside the left post.
Gibson Bardsley capped the scoring with a breakaway goal at 66:09 off a through ball from Darragh Simm. Bardsley sent a 15-yard strike inside the right post for his fourth goal of the year.
Western Washington outshot SPU 25-16, matching the most shots any team has attempted against the Falcons this fall. Fifteen of those shots came in the second half against Johnson.
Kuehn made three saves and allowed two goals in the opening period before being replaced at halftime by Johnson.
Collings commended Johnson, who came off the bench to amass six saves during his 45-minute stint.
“He was awesome. He made a couple big-time saves, including one on a penalty. There's a great example of where we were tonight -- Zach saves the penalty and we're not there to follow it up. That probably sums it up.”
The 4-0 score was the third-largest win in the series for the Vikings and their most lopsided since a 9-0 rout in 1970 during legendary SPU coach Cliff McCrath's inaugural season. Western drew a split of the season series after the Falcons were 1-0 victors on Oct. 3 in Bellingham. SPU still holds a comfortable 39-12-5 lead in the all-time series.
WWU goalkeeper Cameron Copps-Tilley made four saves en route to his second shutout.
Collings praised the performance by the Vikings.
“Give Western all the credit in the world. I've told everybody that they are a good team, they've just been unlucky. The ball bounced their way tonight and it didn't go our way. I think you create that and we didn't create that tonight.”
The SPU men have one final game on their regular-season schedule.
“We've got to try to win. Stranger things have happened, maybe we can still get in to the postseason somehow, some way,” Collings said. “We've got to stop this. We worked too hard to end our season this way.”
The Falcons play Northwest Nazarene in their regular-season finale at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7, which will be SPU's Senior Night. Four Falcons will play their final home game that night: Jordan Dettmer (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS), Enis Isufi (Auburn, Wash./Peninsula CC), Alec Nelson (Lynnwood, Wash./Meadowdale HS) and Corey Sinser (Bellevue, Wash./Eastside Catholic HS).
“We need to try to finish the season on a strong point by winning our last game,” Collings concluded. “It's Senior Day, so hopefully the guys will come out and want to send those guys out right.”
NCAA Men's Soccer
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Interbay Stadium/Seattle, Wash.
Western Washington 4, Seattle Pacific 0
Scoring -- 1, WWU, Kellan Brown (Brendan Quilici), 6:34. 2, WWU, Oscar Jimenez, 40:18. 3, WWU, Kellan Brown, 56:27. 4, WWU, Gibson Bardsley (Darragh Simm), 66:09.
Shots – SPU 16, WWU 25.
Saves – WWU 4 (Cameron Copps-Tilley), SPU 9 (Kaleb Kuehn 3, Zach Johnson 6).
Corner kicks – WWU 4, SPU 5.
Fouls – WWU 6, SPU 13.
Offsides – WWU 3, SPU 0.
Attendance -- 254.
Records –
Seattle Pacific 10-5-3, 3-3-1 GNAC
Western Washington 6-11-0, 3-3-0 GNAC
Next match –
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific (Senior Night)
Saturday, Nov. 7, Interbay Stadium, 7 p.m.
