• FINAL STATS   |   • PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Nicholas Denley broke a scoreless deadlock in the 70th minute Thursday to give Concordia (Ore.) a 1-0 win at Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer game.
 
The Falcons (8-7-0), who lost for only the second time at Interbay Stadium in seven outings this season, had their league record evened at 4-4-0. They were blanked for just the third time this season and had scored at least once in seven consecutive contests.
 
Titus Grant, the reigning GNAC Player of the Week, tallied a goal in each of the six previous games. The SPU sophomore forward had a golden opportunity to stretch his scoring streak to seven, but missed a penalty kick in the 56th minute.
 
Grant was stopped two short of the school-record for consecutive games with a goal. Jason Dunn scored in eight straight outings during the 1993 season.
 
The Cavaliers (4-8-1) halted a six-game losing skid, winning for the first time since Sept. 22 when they were 2-1 overtime victors over SPU in Portland. Their GNAC record improved to 2-6-0.
 
"Concordia deserves a lot of credit. They had a game plan and they really stuck with it," said SPU coach Mark Collings. "The disappointing part is we actually played some pretty good soccer, in the second half especially.
 
"In the first half we didn't play fast enough to force them to have to step out of their shape. Because of that we had good quality opportunities, but not a lot of quantity. Where in the second half we had both, quality and quantity."
 
Intricate passes in the box from Christian Thyron and Alec Dunkeld found Denley in the center of the box. He eluded a defender before slotting a 10-yard shot into the right side of the goal, past the outstretched arms of diving SPU keeper Kary Whitney at 69:16.
 
The deficit sparked the hosts, who kept the ball in their offensive half for a majority of the next 15 minutes. SPU managed seven unanswered shots and created nine corner kicks during that span, but the goal proved evasive.
 
"They fought really, really hard, they tackled hard and they played with a little bit more urgency than we did," described Collings. "Then when we went down we matched them and once we matched them we started to exceed them as fatigue set in for them. The key was we put the ball down on the ground and played a little bit more soccer instead of being so direct."
 
Several of the Falcons' opportunities during that stretch were near misses. Grant drove a free kick from the edge of the box toward the left side that forced goalkeeper Grant Alcorn to fully extend on a dive to deflect it from danger.
 
SPU's final attempt was a hard shot by freshman Mario Vuckic that was corralled by the Cavaliers goalkeeper with four minutes left to play.
 
Alcorn registered his third clean sheet and finished with six saves for the visitors, who were out-shot by an 18-15 margin. Most of that damage was done after halftime as the Falcons had a 14-8 advantage during the final 45 minutes.
 
"Their goalkeeper made some big-time saves. The post denied us as well. They cleared one off the line tonight," Collings recalled. "It's soccer. It wasn't for lack of effort. I'm not disappointed with how we played, I'm disappointed with the result, obviously."
 
Whitney, an SPU senior, made his fifth start in goal and his first since the Sept. 22 game at Concordia. He stopped four shots Thursday. His best effort came in the 54th minute with a dive to his left to smother a low blast from Denley.
 
Despite a 7-4 shot deficit in the first half, SPU had the best scoring chance.
 
In the 11th minute Grant broke past the goalkeeper and sent a long roller goal-ward that was denied by CU defender Michael Hatch, who raced to barely clear the ball off the line with a remarkable play.
 
The hosts had four terrific second-half tries at the Cavaliers goal before conceding a score.
 
Falcons freshman Alden Massey capped an impressive dribbling run into the box by firing a shot wide of the right post.
 
On another foray into the box, Massey was tripped by defender Axel Lonnfors, giving SPU a penalty kick at 55:56. Grant stepped to the 12-yard spot, but his shot to the left of the goal was blocked by the goalkeeper. SPU's Trevor Lee immediately followed the carom with a header that was collected by Alcorn.
 
Grant, who amassed nine goals in six games entering Thursday, had been perfect in three previous penalty kick attempts this season.
 
In the 64th minute, Lee swung a 20-yard free kick toward the left post, but it curled just wide.
 
Four minutes later the ball dropped to the feet of Alex Mejia right next to the Cavaliers' goal, but his quick shot bounded off the right post.
 
The SPU men complete their current six-game homestand on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Montana State Billings.
 
"We have to find a way to capture the urgency that we played with for the last 20 minutes tonight and play that way for 90," Collings said of the matchup with the Yellowjackets.
 
In this season's first meeting, on Sept. 27, SPU escaped Billings with a 3-2 win on a goal by Chris Cole with 44 seconds left in regulation.
 
"It was a great game. We were up and then had to come back so we'll expect a really difficult game on Saturday night," said Collings. "Billings is really good. They've got good balance, they know how to play and they can play multiple styles."
 
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
Concordia (Ore.) 1, at Seattle Pacific 0
 
Scoring – 1, CU, Nicholas Denley (Alec Dunkeld, Christian Thyron), 69:16.
 
                          1   2  --  TOTAL
Concordia (Ore.)          0   1  --    1
Seattle Pacific           0   0  --    0
 
Shots – CU 15, SPU 18.
Shots on Goal – CU 5, SPU 7.
Saves – CU 7 (Grant Alcorn 6, Team 1), SPU 4 (Kary Whitney).
Corner kicks – CU 4, SPU 13.
Fouls – CU 14, SPU 13.
Offsides – CU 2, SPU 2.
 
Records
Concordia (Ore.) 4-8-1,  2-6-0 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 8-7-0,  4-4-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Montana State Billings at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Oct. 20, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.