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     • VIDEO: Danny  Brill

  SEATTLE – Tyler Schultz scored on a six-yard header with 46 seconds left in the first overtime Saturday to lift 15th-ranked Seattle Pacific to a 2-1 victory over Western Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer game at Interbay Stadium.

The golden goal came on the first shot of overtime by the Falcons (12-3-2), who improved their league record to 6-2-1. They swept the season series from WWU (5-10), which fell to 3-6 in GNAC play.

SPU was a 1-0 victor in Bellingham on Sept. 28 in this season's first meeting. Schultz netted the game-winner in the 86th minute of that contest.

Saturday's game-ending scoring situation was started when senior defender Danny Brill collected the ball near midfield on the left side and fed a long pass to Caleb Nyone who quickly floated the ball toward the Vikings goal. Schultz sprinted into the box and nodded a shot over goalkeeper Keegan Rogers from 6-yards out that carried into the center of the goal at 99:14.

"Our player came through again. I can't say enough about Tyler," SPU coach Mark Collings said.

The seventh game-winner of the season for Schultz (Scottsdale, Ariz.) gave him a league-leading 14 goals. He moved into the No. 10 spot among all-time Falcons with his 36th career goal.



Collings credited senior leadership with spearheading the hard-fought result.

"Danny Brill started the scoring play with a great ball. Two seniors stepped up and kind of carried us a little bit tonight. You can't replace experience and that's something that we've been lacking the past couple years. Finally we have a group that really understands what it takes to win games like this."

Rogers was credited with 10 saves for WWU, which was outshot 23-8.

Falcons junior Zach Johnson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) stopped two shots, one of them coming in the third minute of overtime that denied a dangerous effort by Tye Hastings.

SPU got the lone first-half goal, at 36:24. A long through pass from Christopher Morris freed Ryan Brand in the right side of the box. He veered toward the goal before unleashing a 20-yard blast from a sharp angle that deflected off the goalkeeper before sneaking inside the right post. A senior forward, Brand (Portland, Ore.) ranks second on the team with five goals.

The Vikings got the equalizer at 65:11 off a set piece from the right flank. Oscar Jimenez sent a free kick to the near side that Kellan Brown headed inside the right post for his seventh goal of the season.

During the five-minute break between the end of regulation and the start of overtime, Collings was animated as he addressed his team.

"I just told them, 'No one ever said that this was going to be easy. We've faced a lot of adversity this season and this is just another hurdle. If we want to go where we set our goals, then these are the games where you've got to dig down deep.'

"We had some guys cramping up and little knicks and knocks from the game. I said 'You've got to find a way to put that all that in another place and go put a ball in the back of the net. This is it. This is your season. This is what it comes all down to. After all the work that you've done, you've got to find a way to be a little bit more hungry than they are.'"

The SPU men complete their regular-season slate at home on Saturday, Nov. 5. They host Saint Martin's at 7 p.m.

That may not be the final Interbay Stadium game of the year for the Falcons. They were listed No. 1 in last week's West Region rankings and would host two rounds of NCAA Division II Tournament games if they preserve that position through next week.

 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Interbay Stadium/Seattle, Wash.
 
at #15 Seattle Pacific 2, Western Washington 1 (ot)
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Ryan Brand (Christopher Morris), 36:24. 2, WWU, Kellan Brown (Oscar Jimenez), 65:11. 3, SPU, Tyler Schultz (Danny Brill, Caleb Nyone), 99:14.
 
Shots – WWU 8, SPU 23.
Saves – WWU 10 (Keegan Rogers), SPU 2 (Zach Johnson).
Corner kicks – WWU 3, SPU 5.
Fouls – WWU 26, SPU 13.
Offsides – WWU 3, SPU 3.
Ejections – None.
Attendance – 357.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 12-3-2,  6-2-1 GNAC
Western Washington 5-10-0, 3-6-0 GNAC
 
Next game
Saint Martin's at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Nov. 5, 7:00 p.m., Interbay Stadium