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THURSDAY, AUGUST 30 --
(#11) Seattle Pacific at Notre Dame de Namur
3:00 p.m. PDT, Koret Field, Belmont, Calif.
No live game coverage

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 --
(#11) Seattle Pacific at (#23) Chico State
7:00 p.m. PDT, University Soccer Stadium, Chico, Calif.
Livestats at -- www.chicowildcats.com

With sights squarely set on a second straight postseason appearance, the Seattle Pacific men's soccer squad (0-0) starts its fifth season under Coach Mark Collings. A treacherous two-game road trip kicks off the 2012 campaign as the Falcons visit the teams that dealt their lone non-conference blemishes in 2011. SPU opens in Belmont, Calif. against Notre Dame de Namur on Thursday, Aug. 30 at 3 p.m. The Argonauts won 3-1 last season in Seattle. On Saturday, Sept. 1 the SPU men visit 23rd-ranked Chico State (0-0) at 7 p.m. The Wildcats opened the 2011 season at SPU and battled to a scoreless tie. The Falcons are vying for their 32nd NCAA Division II Tournament berth. They advanced to the West Regional championship game last fall.

Opening Act
Seattle Pacific begins its 45th year of men's soccer competition. The Falcons are undefeated in their last seven season openers (4-0-3). They battled Chico State (2011) and Humboldt State (2010) to scoreless home draws in the last two lid-lifters. SPU has a 30-7-7 record in all-time openers and is 31-7-6 in its initial home games.



2012 Preview
Eight starters return from the SPU men's soccer team that advanced to the regional final of the 2011 NCAA Division II Tournament. Heading the list of returnees are first-team All-America defender Jon Pearman and honorable mention goalkeeper selection Zach Johnson. They anchor a defense that compiled 11 shutouts and surrendered an average of just 0.88 goals per game. The midfield features first-team All-GNAC standout Caleb Nyone. Helping ease the loss of the team's top-three scorers, including All-American Tyler Schultz, is junior forward Blaine Carver along with frontline mates Elliot Morton and Kyle Peterman who were both sidelined last season due to injury.

2011 Review
The SPU men compiled a 14-4-2 record in 2011 and participated in the postseason for the first time since 2006. The Falcons finished second in the GNAC standings with a 7-2-1 record. They earned the top seed in the West Region, capitalizing on the homefield advantage to defeat Cal State Dominguez Hills 2-1 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. SPU was ousted from the playoffs by a 3-2 loss to Cal State L.A. in the regional championship game. Departed senior Tyler Schultz, the 2011 GNAC and West Region Player of the Year, netted 16 goals en route to first-team All-America honors.

Coach Collings
Fifth-year coach Mark Collings is the third head coach in the 45-year history of Seattle Pacific men's soccer. He has a 41-25-10 record with the Falcons. Collings directed SPU to a 14-4-2 record in 2011, capped by its first playoff appearance in five years. The Falcons earned the top seed in the West and advanced to the regional championship game. Collings was named the 2010 GNAC Co-Coach of the Year after leading SPU to a 10-6-2 overall record and a second-place league mark of 7-2-1. The Falcons were 11-5-3 in 2009, finishing third with a 4-3-1 league ledger. In his first season, SPU was 6-10-3 with a second-place GNAC finish (4-4) in 2008. Collings replaced Cliff McCrath, who compiled a 512-190-87 mark in 38 seasons (1970-2007). Arnie Aizstrauts was 1-14-1 from 1968-69. The co-captain of SPU's 1998 Final Four team, Collings was a five-year assistant coach. He avoided a first-year Falcon curse as his predecessors were winless in their inaugural seasons.

Ticket Talk
Tickets for SPU soccer games can be purchased on game day at Interbay Stadium (3027 17th Ave. W., Seattle 98119). All seats are general admission and priced at $6 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. Groups or teams of 10 or more may qualify for reduced ticket rates by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

This Week's Opponents
Notre Dame de Namur (0-0-0) -- The Argonauts, from the PacWest Conference, registered a 12-6 record last season, including an 8-4 league mark. Junior forward Armando Garcia is NDNU's leading returning scorer after compiling six goals and five assists in 2011. The Falcons won the first four meetings in their series with the Notre Dame before falling 3-1 last season in Seattle.

Chico State (0-0-0) -- The 23rd-ranked Wildcats return six starters from a 13-4-4 team that was eliminated in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament in a penalty-kick tiebreaker to Cal State L.A. The top returning scorer for Coach Felipe Restrepo's Wildcats is sophomore forward Octavio Guzman, who netted eight goals last season. Goalkeeper Sam Evans (Snoqualmie, Wash./Mt. Si) returns after posting five shutouts and a 0.84 goals against average. The Wildcats halted a five-game losing skid against SPU with a 1-0 victory on Sept. 6, 2010 in Chico, Calif. The teams played to a scoreless tie in Seattle during the 2011 season opener. The Falcons own an 18-16-2 series edge.

GNAC Poll
Coming off their first NCAA men's soccer tournament appearance in five years, the Seattle Pacific Falcons head into the 2012 season as the No. 2 pick for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title in the preseason coaches poll. The Falcons received one first-place vote and 57 points in the polling. Simon Fraser, which has won both league crowns since joining the GNAC two years ago as the first Canadian member of the NCAA, is the favorite to make it three straight. The Clan collected the other seven first-place votes and a total of 62 points. After those two, it's a significant drop to the No. 3 spot, which belongs to Montana State Billings with 44 points. In addition to their No. 2 position in the GNAC, the Falcons are ranked No. 11 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America preseason poll – the same spot they occupied on last year's final NSCAA list. Simon Fraser is No. 9 in that poll. SPU and the Clan will square off on Sept. 27 in Burnaby, B.C., and again on Oct. 27 in Seattle.

“With Simon Fraser running the table last year (18-0-1, 9-0-1 GNAC) and returning quite a few players, they're definitely who I picked to have a great shot to win it again,” SPU head coach Mark Collings said. “But we're certainly not going to concede it to them. We're going to do our best to give them a run for it. The thing about our conference is that I don't think people realize how difficult it is. The quality of the teams is getting better every year, and the amount of travel that we do takes quite a toll.”