• FINAL STATS   |   • VIDEO: Kary  Whitney

SEATTLE –Titus Grant scored all three Seattle Pacific goals during a nine-minute span midway through the first half Saturday and the Falcons held on for a 3-2 men's soccer home victory over Northwest Nazarene in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference clash at Interbay Stadium.
 
The sophomore forward extended his scoring streak to six straight games and he has amassed nine goals during that stretch that started on Sept. 27. Grant notched the second hat trick this season by an SPU player, the other coming Sept. 15 when freshman Alden Massey recorded three goals at home against Hawaii Hilo.
 
The visitors got an early goal off the foot of Alex Mitrovic just 3:08 into Saturday's contest.
 
Grant evened the score with a penalty kick at 18:17. He scored again at 20:09 and completed the hat trick at 26:36. His 11 scores lead the team and he is the first SPU player with double-figure goals in a season since 2011 when All-American Tyler Schulz had 16 tallies.
 
"Tyler Schultz was really good and I don't even know if he put up a streak like this," exclaimed SPU coach Mark Collings. "Titus is in fantastic form. With anything in sports when you're on a run the goal looks bigger, the ball looks bigger and is easier to hit, the hole for golf or the hoop for basketball looks huge. He's on a run right now and we're riding him for sure.
 
"The one thing is he's starting to figure out how he can be effective and where he can be effective. For a period of time there he was trying to force his way into things and in some ways he starting to let the game come to him. Credit to his teammates, they're finding him in areas where he can be successful."
 
Grant scored the game-winning goal in Thursday's 4-2 home triumph over Western Washington.
 
The Falcons (8-6-0) won for the fifth time in the last six outings and improved their conference record to 4-3-0. NNU (3-8-1) had its GNAC mark move to 3-3-0.
 
The Nighthawks were victorious in this year's first encounter, a 2-0 decision on Sept. 20 in Nampa, Idaho in the league opener for both teams.
 
Red-shirt freshman Lars Helleren started in goal for SPU and stopped one shot in 45 minutes between the posts before being replaced at halftime by senior Kary Whitney. NNU was out-shot 12-4 during the first half, but led the shot count by a 9-2 margin in the second period. Whitney made three saves to secure the SPU win.


 
"We're really fortunate to have two really good goalkeepers. It's not something we've typically done. In my time here we've normally had one guy and went with him," Collings described. "I felt completely comfortable with Kary in there.
 
"You always have reasons for change and we felt like in this game it was appropriate to put Kary in and see if he could close it out for us. He came through. He held on to some tough balls and came out on a big punch for one as well. He provided a good calming presence that we needed."
 
Jacob Hillyer was credited with six saves for the Nighthawks, who were on the short end of a 14-13 shot deficit.
 
Mitrovic opened the scoring with a 12-yard shot that he slipped inside the left post off a pass from Dominic Abdel-Ahad.
 
Grant responded 15 minutes later, leveling the scoring with a well-placed penalty kick to the lower left of the goal. The free shot was issued when SPU's Massey was taken down by a poor slide tackle from Sam Ho.

 

Freshman defender Ed Weise initiated the second SPU score with a long ball from the back line to the Nighthawks end. Grant reached the ball before the NNU goalkeeper and defender converged, sliding to send it high into the left side of the goal from 14 yards out.
 
An unassisted strike secured the hat trick, providing a 3-1 lead for the Falcons. Grant raced to beat Hillyer to a bouncing ball and got around the onrushing goalkeeper. He deposited a seven-yard shot into the top right of the open goal.
 
Rafael Junqueira drew NNU within one goal at 59:32 on a low, 19-yard shot that nicked off the left post and across the line.
 
"Defensively, a couple guys were out of the lineup so we just looked a little shaky today through the midfield and in the back," said Collings. "Credit to NNU, they sent a lot of numbers forward.
 
"That's what we have to understand is when teams are down they're not going to be content to lose, but will throw numbers forward and give it their best to get back into the game. They did that and made it really interesting there at the end and luckily we held on."
 
The Nighthawks nearly equalized in the 80th minute on shot by Mitrovic from the center of a crowded box. Whitney reacted quickly and deflected the high shot over the crossbar.
 
NNU continued to pressure the goal and had three attempts during the final 10 minutes, two of the from Juqueira. His last try, at 88:17, was blocked by a defender.
 
One final foray featured a looping serve into the box by Carlos Rodriguez-Diaz that Whitney rose high to grab in traffic with 15 seconds left to play.
 
"We were fortunate tonight. We just have to find a way to put teams away," Collings said. "We play well for 30 minutes and then it's hang on for 60. I don't think we understand that we have to play for 90 minutes the way we are going to do things."
 
The Falcons complete their current six-game homestand with a pair of Interbay Stadium games next week. They host Concordia (Ore.) on Thursday and Montana State Billings on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.
 
"I really don't feel like we've put together a full 90 minutes yet. We've played well in spurts," Collings said. "For us to have success next week we're going to have to put 90 minutes together. We've got to find a way to be effective with the players that we have on the field regardless of what our opponent is doing."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 3, Northwest Nazarene 2
 
Scoring – 1, NNU, Alex Mitrovic (Dominic Abdel-Ahad), 3:08; 2, SPU, Titus Grant (PK), 18:17; 3, SPU, Grant (Ed Weise), 20:09; 4, SPU, Grant (unassisted), 26:36; 5, NNU, Rafael Junqueira (Logan Wood), 59:32.
 
                          1   2  --  TOTAL
Northwest Nazarene        1   1  --    2
Seattle Pacific           3   0  --    3
 
Shots – NNU 13, SPU 14.
Shots on Goal – NNU 6, SPU 9.
Saves – NNU 6 (Jacob Hillyer), SPU 4 (Lars Helleren 1, Kary Whitney 3).
Corner kicks – NNU 9, SPU 1.
Fouls – NNU 14, SPU 16.
Offsides – NNU 1, SPU 4.
 
Records
Northwest Nazarene 3-8-1,  3-3-0 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 8-6-0,  4-3-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Concordia (Ore.) at Seattle Pacific
Thursday, Oct. 18, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.