• VIDEO: LUKE POSTMA
SEATTLE – Win and they're in. Lose and they're out. Tie and it gets complicated.
That's the situation the first-place Seattle Pacific men are faced with Saturday night in pursuit of the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer championship. Their final regular-season contest, at 7 p.m. in Burnaby, B.C., comes against second-place Simon Fraser.
Thursday's game at Terry Fox Field was snowed out
The game will will be contested at Terry Fox Field, if the weather allows. Reports call for a mixture of rain and snow Saturday evening in the Burnaby Mountain area.
The Clan were scheduled to host Western Washington on Thursday night, but that game was postponed due to heavy snowfall. Knowing that outcome would have helped the Falcons, informing them if a tie would be enough to clinch the title. Instead they will play to win on Saturday and, in the event of a draw, be nervous Sunday at 4 p.m. during the rescheduled Simon Fraser-WWU matchup.
The Falcons (11-4-1) have a 7-3-1 GNAC record, good for a first-place total of 22 points. They have a two-point edge over Simon Fraser (6-2-2) and five over fourth-place Western Washington (5-3-2). Both of them have a game in hand they will employ on Sunday while SPU has a bye.
Instead of awaiting Sunday's result, the SPU men would like to determine their own destiny and claim the GNAC championship with a win Saturday.
"That's all you can ask for. When you start the beginning of the year you want every game to mean something," said SPU coach
Mark Collings. "So to go to the last game of the year with a chance to win a GNAC title is awesome.
"It's certainly a big task Saturday night up at Simon Fraser. They're a really, really good soccer team."
SPU and Simon Fraser battled to a 1-1 draw on Sept 21 in Seattle during the only previous encounter this season. That was the conference opener for both teams.
The league's regular-season winner receives an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament that begins Nov. 9.
The Falcons are vying for their fourth GNAC championship. They were 2006 co-champions and then won back-to-back crowns in 2014 and 2015 before surrendering the title to Simon Fraser in 2016.
Scenarios for Seattle Pacific to become the GNAC champion:
• SPU gets the GNAC title with a win Saturday
• SPU gets the GNAC title with a tie Saturday as long as …
–Western Washington & Simon Fraser tie Sunday OR
–Simon Fraser loses Sunday AND Western Washington does not win Saturday vs. Concordia
