• FINAL STATS

LACEY, Wash. – Alex Mejia distributed an assist and scored the final goal Thursday, capping the Seattle Pacific men's 5-3 come-from-behind victory over Saint Martin's in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest at SMU Soccer Field.
 
The Saints gained an early 2-0 lead on a pair of goals by Brandon Madsen less than two minutes apart. He converted a penalty kick at 14:30 after SPU committed a handball in the box, and scored from the run of play in the 17th minute.
 
The visitors cut the deficit in half just three seconds before halftime on a penalty kick by Gabe Kellum. Mejia sprinted down the right flank as the final 10 seconds were being counted down. He served a cross into the center and Saint Martin's was whistled for fouling a Falcon going for a header in the goalmouth.
 
"It definitely was an ugly 44 minutes and 57 seconds," SPU coach Mark Collings said about the start of the game. "We were fortunate to get a penalty kick at the end of the first half and that kind of woke us up a little bit.
 
"That goal was important from the standpoint that it didn't make the comeback such a big hole anymore. It was one goal instead of two. It changed the momentum. Scoring right before the end of the half gave us a little bit of energy and maybe took the wind out of their sails a little bit."
 
SPU evened the score less than five minutes after halftime when Mejia set up a goal by Gabriel Weber, and gained a 3-2 lead on Jacob Bohl's tally 2-minutes, 4-seconds after that. That was the first collegiate goal for Bohl, a junior.
 
The Saints leveled the score, 3-3, on a strike in the 65th minute by Kyle Witzel before Jess Cayetano put SPU ahead for good at 72:48.
 
Chaz Jenkins and Trevor Lee assisted Cayetano's goal, giving the Falcons a 4-3 lead.

 

Mejia netted an unassisted goal at 82:33 to complete the scoring, beating SMU defenders and shooting near the side of the box to score under the goalkeeper's legs. That was the third goal of the season for the freshman who started the season as a defender, but was moved forward due to several injuries on the front line.
 
"He's just a big body who can hold the ball for us," said Collings. "Alex is good in the air and can finish. He's tough for other teams to deal with and provides us a lot of energy."
 
The two halves could not have been more different. After going without a shot for the opening 33 minutes and trying only four during the entire first period, SPU attempted 10 in the second half.
 
SMU had 10 first-half shots, but was limited to only three after intermission.
 
"All credit to Saint Martin's they came out, were flying and we just couldn't match their intensity," Collings described. "In the second half we obviously came out well and then had another little lapse. We just have to do a better job of maintaining our discipline and playing at the same level for all 90 minutes. We still have yet to put together a 90-minute performance."
 
Kellum and Weber remained tied for team-high scoring honors, each recording his fifth goal of the season.
 
Five different SPU players notched a goal in the game. For the season, the Falcons attack features 12 players with at least one goal and 14 with at least one assist.
 
"It's more by necessity than anything," Collings said of the balanced scoring attack that offsets the absence of two top forwards who are sidelined with injuries. "It's something that we've talked about all year long, that we are going to have to lean on our depth. Today wasn't any different.
 
"We just have to continue to fight through and find guys who can put the ball in the back of the net. Today obviously we were able to do that. The nice thing is that we have several different guys who can score, the tough part is finding minutes for all of them so they can stay in a rhythm."
 
The scoring spree represented SPU's highest goal total of the season and its best offensive output since a 6-1 home win over Colorado Christian on Sept. 8, 2016.
 
The last time the Falcons scored as many goals against a GNAC opponent was Oct. 23, 2014 when they blanked South Dakota Mines by a 6-0 count.
 
The eight goals marked the highest combined scoring total in an SPU men's soccer game since Oct. 6, 2012 when the same two teams registered the exact same score at SMU Soccer Field.
 
Goalkeeper Kary Whitney stopped one shots for SPU on Thursday. Elliot Parker was credited with five saves for the Saints, who were outshot by a slim 14-13 margin.
 
Saint Martin's (0-10-1) remained winless in GNAC games, falling to 0-5-1.
 
The Falcons (8-3-1) improved their conference record to 4-2-1. They completed an extended road trip with four wins in five outings, the lone loss a 2-0 setback last Thursday (Oct. 5) at Western Washington.
 
Collings claims that surviving the daunting five-game road stretch puts his team in position to pursue the playoffs.
 
"What this does is set us up to play some games that still mean quite a bit. At the beginning of the year when we looked at this part of the schedule we knew that this would probably make or break our season. Fortunately for us it hasn't broken us even though it would have been a lot nicer to go 5-0.
 
"The big thing is the guys are tired, but we didn't let that be an excuse for us. On the road for the first three weeks of the quarter of school, with multiple flights and bus trips and late-night returns to campus, it catches up with you. To have a bye this weekend and to give the guys a chance to let their bodies heal is really important to us. Hopefully it will allow us to come back fresh next week and really get after it."
 
The SPU men host Northwest Nazarene next Thursday, Oct. 19, at 4:30 p.m. to begin a four-game homestand at Interbay Stadium.
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, October 12, 2017
SMU Soccer Field / Lacey, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 5, at Saint Martin's 3
 
Scoring – 1, SMU, Brandon Madsen (pk), 14:30; 2, SMU, Madsen (John Cayman), 16:17; 3, SPU, Gabe Kellum (pk), 44:57; 4, SPU, Gabriel Weber (Alex Mejia), 49:59; 5, SPU, Jacob Bohl (Ryan Higgins), 51:54; 6, SMU, Kyle Witzel (Christian Caro, Collin LaBranche), 64:47; 7, SPU, Jess Cayetano (Chaz Jenkins, Trevor Lee), 72:48; 7, SPU, Mejia, 82:33.
 
                       1   2  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific        1   4  --    5
Saint Martin's         2   1  --    3
 
Shots – SPU 14, SMU 13.
Shots on Goal – SPU 10, SMU 4.
Saves – SPU 1 (Kary Whitney), SMU 5 (Elliot Parker).
Corner Kicks – SPU 6, SMU 5.
Fouls – SPU 12, SMU 14.
Offsides – SPU 4, SMU 0.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 8-3-1, 4-2-1 GNAC
Saint Martin's 0-10-1, 0-5-1 GNAC
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Northwest Nazarene at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 19, 4:30 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.