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     • VIDEO: Christopher Morris

SEATTLE – He knows as well as anyone about the impressive history of Seattle Pacific men's soccer.
 
Mark Collings is in his fifth season as the head coach. He lettered four years for the Falcons from 1995-98. The program's five national championship trophies reside near his office on campus. He can tell you about SPU's 31 NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, the most recent coming last year under his direction.
 
But Collings was unaware that Saturday's win secured a tie for the fastest start in school history.
 
“I didn't know that. Wow, that's pretty amazing,” he exclaimed.
 
Christopher Morris scored for the second straight game and also distributed an assist, helping second-ranked SPU (6-0) equal the school record for victories to open a season with a 3-1 win over the University of Mary in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer game at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Falcons matched the six-win starts of the 1985 and 1991 SPU squads. Both of those teams lost in their seventh outings.
 
“I guess on Thursday we'll go and see if we can break that record,” Collings said.
 


SPU improved to 2-0 in league play with a win over newest GNAC member U-Mary from Bismarck, N.D. The Marauders (2-3-1) evened their conference ledger at 1-1.
 
Brandon Kuenzi (Silverton, Ore.) was credited with an assist on the first goal. His long throw-in from the right sideline went to toward the near post. With his back to the goal, Morris (Mercer Island, Wash./Mercer Island HS) flicked the ball into the left side of the goal from six yards out at 7:08 for his second goal of the year.
 
SPU tallied again at 64:21 when Richie Evoy (Bend, Ore.) slammed a penalty kick high into the center of the goal for his second score of the season. Blaine Carver (Soldotna, Ak.) was fouled in the right side of the box by Robin Wettach-Glosser to force the penalty kick.
 
The lead grew to 3-0 at 72:25 on senior forward Kyle Peterman's (Boise, Idaho) first goal as a Falcon. The Seattle University transfer ran onto a pass from Morris and slipped an eight-yard shot inside the right post.
 
Peterman became the 10th different player to score for the Falcons. That balanced attack helps ease the loss of All-America forward Tyler Schultz, whose 16 goals accounted for nearly 40 percent of the team's offense in 2011.
 
“We talked about it at the beginning of the year, that we were going to have a balanced attack with multiple guys that can put the ball in the back of the net,” said Collings.
 
“It's great to get Kyle Peterman going tonight, I felt good for him. He's been pressing a little bit, so to get him on the scoresheet is probably big for us because we feel like he can score quite a few goals for us.”
 
U-Mary avoided the shutout with 18 seconds left to play. Jonathan Sellars collected a loose ball to the left of the Falcons goalmouth and booted a nine-yard strike inside the left post.
 
Senior goalkeeper Zach Johnson (Snohomish, Wash./Snohomish HS) had one save for SPU, which compiled a 16-10 shot advantage.
 
Goalkeeper Michael Frenzel stopped four shots and Marauders teammate Wettach-Glosser cleared one SPU attempt off the line at the right post.
 
The Falcons now embark on a five-game road trip, beginning on Thursday at Northwest Nazarene.
 
“One thing I've always admired about our group the past couple years is we seem to bring a good focus on the road. The biggest thing for us is just getting some training in next week,” said Collings, who was pleased to preserve the perfect record through a hectic four-game homestand.
 
“Having this be our fourth game in nine days was tough, especially when you're putting days off in there. So, to get a couple good days of training before we get on the road is going to be a big thing for us because there are some things that we've consistently been doing wrong that we're going to be able to fix on Monday and Tuesday.”

 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, Sept. 15, 2012
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
(#2) Seattle Pacific 3, U-Mary 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Christopher Morris (Brandon Kuenzi), 7:08; 2, SPU, Richie Evoy (PK), 64:11; 3, SPU, Kyle Peterman (Morris, Blaine Carver), 72:25; 4, UM, Jonathan Sellars, 89:42.
 
Shots – UM 16, SPU 10.
Saves – UM 5 (Michael Frenzel 4), SPU 1 (Zach Johnson).
Corner kicks – UM 3, SPU 7.
Fouls – UM 19, SPU 18.
Offsides – UM 0, SPU 2.
Attendance – 286.
 
Records:
Seattle Pacific 6-0-0,  2-0-0 GNAC
U-Mary 2-3-1,  1-1-0 GNAC
 
Next game:
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene
Thursday, Sept. 20, 4:30 p.m. PDT, Nampa, Idaho