• Final Stats   |   • VIDEO: Ryan  Higgins

SEATTLE – A game that seemed destined to become an exasperating evening for the Falcons was instantly transformed by Ryan Higgins into a night to remember.
 
Higgins scored with 26 seconds remaining in the final overtime Thursday, lifting Seattle Pacific to a 2-1 victory over Fort Hays State in a non-conference men's soccer game at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Falcons (4-1-0) completed non-league play with their fourth consecutive victory.
 
"Four wins out of five games is great. That's the first part of our season, the non-conference is over with," said 10th-year Coach Mark Collings, whose SPU squad had a five-year NCAA Division II Tournament streak stopped last season. The Falcons fly into GNAC action seeking the league's first-ever automatic qualifying berth into the playoffs.
 
"All the work we've done just means these conference games mean a little bit more. With the AQ now in play, conference play is another opportunity for us to guarantee ourselves a tournament berth."
 
Higgins registered the golden goal at 109:34, pushing up from his positon on the back line. He delivered a shot from close range near the left post for his first score of the season. That was the senior defender's third career goal. Quick passes in the box from Julian White and Jess Cayetano set up the decisive tally.
 
"The ball ends up at the back post and Higgins was able to tuck it in," Collings described. "I thought their guy was going to clear it off the line, which is kind of the way our night was going."
 
SPU held the visitors to only one shot after halftime while countering with 13 attempts of their own. They weren't able to find the back of the net until the very last shot.
 
Cayetano helped create both SPU goals, increasing his team-high total to four assists.
 


The Tigers (0-4-1) capitalized on a corner kick to open the scoring 16:43 into the contest. Luis Mendez served the kick from the right side toward the near post. Derick Gonzalez headed the ball from the top of the 6-yard box into the left side of the goal.
 
Less than two minutes later SPU drew level. The ball moved from the left flank across the box from player-to-player. Five Falcons touched the ball, including Cayetano, who fed Gabriel Weber for a tap pass to the goal scorer.
 
Mori Tsuchiya finished from 12 yards with a shot high into the FHSU goal at 18:24. That was the third goal of the season for the senior midfielder.
 
"We didn't play particularly well in the first half, but our response to their goal was great, coming back and getting a quick goal like that," said Collings. "When we went a man up that definitely helped, but I thought we were starting to get ahold of the game before the red card. We were generating some decent chances and their keeper made a couple good saves. Fortunately, we were able to get one at the end."
 
Abdoulaye Cisse was issued his second yellow card in the 68th minute, forcing Fort Hays to play down a man the rest of the way.

 

The Falcons had two dangerous opportunities in the eighth minute of overtime, both off the feet of Chaz Jenkins. His hard shot from outside the box was deflected by the goalkeeper, who scrambled to gather the ball before a follow-up try. Soon after Jenkins made a dribbling run into the box and sent a blast off the left post.
 
"Honestly, when that second one hit the post I thought 'Oh boy, this is going to be one of those nights.' Chaz had a great strike with his left foot and then the one off the post with his right," Collings said.
 
Goalkeeper Alex Rodela made two saves for the Tigers, who were outshot by a 17-6 margin. They did not get off a shot during the two, 10-minute overtime sessions while SPU had nine attempts during that span.
 
The Falcons Kary Whitney was not called upon to make a save.
 
The SPU men start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at home next week. They host defending league champion Simon Fraser for a 7:30 p.m. Thursday clash at Interbay Stadium.
 
The Clan, currently ranked No. 2 nationally, received all seven votes in the GNAC coaches poll as the prohibitive favorite for first place. The Falcons were projected to finish fifth.
 
"We start out with Simon Fraser, which is a big, big task for us. They're the unanimous favorites and we definitely have a lot to prove," Collings concluded. "The coaches in our league picked us fifth, so there's obviously quite a few teams better than us that we're going to have to do our best to take care of."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 2, Fort Hays State 1 (ot)
 
Scoring – 1, FHSU, Derick Gonzalez (Luis Mendez), 16:43; 2, SPU, Mori Tsuchiya (Gabe Weber, Jess Cayetano), 18:24; 3, SPU, Ryan Higgins (Cayetano, Julian White), 109:34.
 
                       1   2  OT  OT  --  TOTAL
Fort Hays State        1   0   0   0  --    1
Seattle Pacific        1   0   0   1  --    2
 
Shots – FHSU 6, SPU 17.
Saves – FHSU 2 (Alex Rodela), SPU 0 (Kary Whitney).
Corner Kicks – FHSU 4, SPU 5.
Fouls – FHSU 18, SPU 21.
Offsides – FHSU 3, SPU 0.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 4-1-0
Fort Hays State 0-4-1
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Simon Fraser at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.