• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Falcons finally proved themselves on the road. Now they get to stay in Seattle for a couple weeks.

Anthony Mohammed scored his first collegiate goal in the opening half Thursday and Drew Williams netted his first of the season after halftime, leading the Seattle Pacific men to a 2-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference soccer win over Montana State Billings at Yellowjacket Field.

That was the second straight road win for SPU, which defeated defending league champion Saint Martin's 1-0 on Saturday.

The Falcons (2-4-2) remained unbeaten in conference play, improving to 2-0-1 with their second straight win. It was SPU's first ever victory in four visits to Billings.

“I'm most happy with the effort we're getting out of them,” Coach Mark Collings said of his Falcons. “Billings is a place we've had a lot of trouble getting results. The fact that we can come over here and get a victory on the road in conference is huge.”

The Yellowjackets (5-3-1) dropped to 1-2 in GNAC games.

The Falcons first goal came off a free kick in the 39th minute. The ball was served into the box and headed toward the goal. Mohammed (Litchfield Park, Ariz.), a red-shirt freshman, beat MSU goalkeeper Matt Mitchell to the ball and slipped a six-yard shot into the goal at 38:34.

SPU extended the lead to 2-0 just over eight minutes into the second half on a fantastic foray by Williams. The junior midfielder dribbled down the right flank through Yellowjacket defenders and reached the box before sending a 25-yard strike into the upper left corner at 53:12.

Sophomore goalkeeper Zach Johnson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) preserved the win with three saves for his third shutout of the season.

Johnson had a lot of help from his defenders, according to Collings.

“Defensively I thought we were very, very good today. They only had three shots on goal and a lot of that had to do with our ability to pressure them. Our back line did a great job of cleaning things up.”

Mitchell was credited with six saves for Billings, which was outshot by a 14-9 margin.

The Falcons have two wins and a tie in their last three games, immediately following a four-game losing streak. Those losses all came on the road and three of them were dealt by teams listed in the current national polls. Chico State is ranked sixth, Metro State is No. 7 and Regis is No. 19.

The difficult non-conference road trip wreaked havoc on the record, but not on the team's confidence.

“We learned a lot on the road early in the season about our team. One thing I've never questioned about this team is the character of these players and that is really showing through right now,” Collings said.

“If those early results go a different way maybe we are in a better position. But they didn't, so we don't have a lot of margin for error right now. The guys know that, and we're just coming out every day and playing as hard as we can.”

The Seattle Pacific men start a five-game homestand on Saturday against Northwest Nazarene. Kick-off is 4:30 p.m. at Interbay Stadium.

Collings is limiting his focus to the first of the five home games.

“We need to get home Saturday and take care of business. We're not looking beyond that. Northwest Nazarene is a good team that has improved a lot. We know we're going to have our hands full.

“We just have to build on the momentum that we have and see if we can keep this thing moving in the right direction."


NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Sept. 30, 2010
Yellowjacket Field/Billings, Mont.

Seattle Pacific 2, Montana State Billings 0

Scoring -- 1, SPU, Anthony Mohammed, 38:34. 2, SPU, Drew Williams, 53:12.

Shots – SPU 14, MSUB 9.
Saves – SPU 3 (Zach Johnson), MSUB 7 (Matt Mitchell 6, team 1).
Corner kicks – SPU 4, MSUB 2.
Fouls – SPU 14, MSUB 14.
Offsides – SPU 1, MSUB 0.
Attendance – 109.

Records –
Seattle Pacific 2-4-2, 2-0-1 GNAC
Montana State Billings 5-3-1, 1-2-0 GNAC

Next game –
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 2, 4:30 p.m., Interbay Stadium