• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

BURNABY, B.C. – Blaine Carver scored two goals Saturday, but the Seattle Pacific men were unable to complete a comeback against fifth-ranked Simon Fraser, which won a 4-3 decision in a matchup of Great Northwest Athletic Conference soccer leaders at Terry Fox Field.

The Falcons (6-2-1) saw a six-game winning streak come to an end with their first loss in four league outings. Defending GNAC champion Simon Fraser (9-0) remaining undefeated, improving to 5-0 in conference action.

"We just weren't quite sharp enough against a good team to get it done tonight," SPU coach Mark Collings said. "Take nothing away from Simon Fraser, but we basically made four mistakes and they scored four goals. That's what good teams do.

"We can't afford to make those kind of mistakes in big games and we did tonight. All that being said we still could have scored five goals tonight to win it."

The Clan found themselves ahead 2-0 early in the second half after a pair of goals by Carlo Basso. He sent a 25-yard blast into the goal at 17:57 and added another score just 1:42 after halftime off a pass from Justin Wallace.

Simon Fraser's Michael Winter was ejected in the 54th minute after drawing a second yellow card and SPU capitalized on the man advantage. Senior forward Tyler Schultz (Scottsdale, Ariz.) netted his team-leading eighth goal at 54:02, heading in a corner kick from Drew Williams (Bend, Ore.).

Josh Bennett answered at 59:37 with the third Clan goal.

Carver (Soldotna, Ak.) got his first goal of the season, an unassisted strike at 66:24. A free kick got flicked to the back post and Carver slid to knock it in from a goalmouth scramble.

The Clan again responded, stretching their lead to 4-2 with another short-handed goal. Matt Besuschko found the goal at 72:39 off a pass from Juan Sanchez.

A sophomore forward, Carver converted a free kick at 75:15 to cap the scoring. The Falcons tallied more goals than were allowed all season by SFU, which entered the game with a 28-2 scoring advantage over opponents.

SPU had four attempts at a tying goal and nearly got the equalizer in the 84th minute. A strong header by Richie Evoy (Bend, Ore.) was stopped at the goal line by Clan goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis, who dove to make the play.

"We still had a chance to tie it up, but their keeper made a nice diving save on the line. We continued to play even though we were down," Collings explained. "We did a lot to cause them a lot of problems, but every time that we were putting them under pressure we bailed them out by giving up bad goals."

Steenhuis finished with seven saves for Simon Fraser, which was outshot 17-14. SPU junior Zach Johnson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) denied five shots.

In their last visit to Burnaby, at the end of the 2010 season, the Falcons dealt Simon Fraser its first loss with a 4-0 shutout. This season's rematch is slated for Oct. 27 in Seattle.

The Seattle Pacific men travel to Phoenix, Ariz. for two games next week. They play Cal Baptist on Thursday and Grand Canyon on Saturday.


NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Terry Fox Field/Burnaby, B.C.

at (#5) Simon Fraser 4, Seattle Pacific 3

Scoring – 1, SF, Carlo Basso, 17:57; 2, SF, Basso (Justin Wallace), 46:42; 3, SPU, Tyler Schultz (Drew Williams), 54:02; 4, SF, Josh Bennett, 59:37; 5, SPU, Blaine Carver, 66:24; 6, SF, Matt Besuschko (Juan Sanchez), 72:39; 7, SPU, Carver, 75:15.

Shots – SPU 17, SF 14.
Saves – SPU 5 (Zach Johnson), SF 7 (Sheldon Steenhuis).
Corner kicks – SPU 5, SF 4.
Fouls – SPU 12, SF 22.
Offside – SPU 3, SF 2.
Ejections -- SF, Michael Winter, 53:56.

Records
Seattle Pacific 6-2-1,  3-1-0 GNAC
Simon Fraser 9-0-0,  5-0-0 GNAC

Next Game
Seattle Pacific vs. Cal Baptist
Thursday, Oct. 6; Phoenix, Ariz., 5 p.m. PDT