• FINAL STATS

BURNABY, B.C. – Alden Massey scored the tying goal in the 18th minute for Seattle Pacific, but the visitors surrendered an own goal midway through the second half of a 2-1 men's soccer loss to No. 1-ranked Simon Fraser on Thursday night at foggy Terry Fox Field.
 
Simon Fraser (15-0-0) kept its perfect record intact. The Clan had already clinched their third consecutive Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and improved to 9-0-0 in league play.
 
The Falcons (8-9-0) absorbed their third straight setback, falling to 4-6-0 in GNAC contests despite a game effort against a team that beat them 6-1 on Oct. 6 in Seattle.
 
The Clan capitalized on the third attempt of an early, three-shot barrage to claim a 1-0 lead just 89 seconds into Thursday's contest.
 
A short corner kick went to Matteo Polisi on the left side of the area for a chip toward the top of the 6-yard box. Lucas McIlveen got a head to the service, forcing SPU goalkeeper Lars Helleren to make a brilliant diving deflection with his right hand. The rebound caromed right back to McIlveen five yards out and he easily deposited the ball into the right side of the goal for his first score of the season.
 
A quality combination of passes set up Massey with the tying goal on the second shot of the game for the Falcons.

 

Defender Alex Mejia served a long ball from behind the 50 toward the left sideline for Titus Grant who quickly flicked the ball forward with his head. Massey overlapped and beat a defender to the ball on a full sprint. He took a couple dribbles into the left side of the box before slipping a low, 14-yard shot between the goalkeeper and the left post at 17:59. That leveled the score, 1-1.
 
A freshman forward, Massey ranks second on the team with six goals to his credit.
 
Thursday's was just the fifth goal yielded by the hosts, and only one of the others was scored by Grant in the first encounter this season between the Northwest rivals.
 
Simon Fraser has never trailed in any game this season and Massey's goal was just the second equalizer achieved by an opponent. The only other tying goal given up came in the season opener at Cal State San Bernardino and the Clan re-claimed the lead less than two minutes later.
 
Fewer than four minutes after the SPU goal, Massey had another quality attempt. His 15-yard blast from straight on was tipped high into the air with a double-fisted reaction save by goalkeeper Luciano Trasolini.
 
The 1-1 scoreline held for nearly 45 minutes with each team creating chances, including a hard, 38th-minute shot just over the crossbar by Polisi.
 
The decisive miscue came at 62:41.
 
Michael North made a long dribbling run for the Clan down the left sideline and angled toward the box. He delivered a firm ball across the goalmouth from just outside the 18-yard box near the endline.
 
SPU defender Jacob Bohl was near the right post and tried to volley the ball clear with his right foot, but instead is caromed across the line for an own goal and 2-1 deficit for his team.
 
The Simon Fraser men entered the game with 54 goals, an average of nearly four (3.71) per game, but managed to put just one ball in the net by themselves on this night.
 
The visitors applied steady pressure during the final five minutes in pursuit of another equalizer. They generated three corner kicks and two shots during that span.
 
Mejia rose to head a ball that traveled wide to the left with 4:20 left to play. A desperate cross into the box in traffic ricocheted off an SPU head toward the goal, but it too carried wide left as time expired.
 
Helleren, a red-shirt freshman, made four saves for SPU, which was outshot by an 18-6 margin. The shots-on-goal category was much closer as Simon Fraser compiled a 5-3 edge.
 
Trasolini stopped two shots for the Clan.
 
The Falcons visit Bellingham on Saturday night for their final road game. They have a 7 p.m. clash with Western Washington at Harrington Field.  The Vikings visited Seattle on Oct. 11 and left on the short end of a 4-2 score.
 
Seattle Pacific's last game of the season, against Saint Martin's, will be played at home on Thursday, Nov. 1. Kick-off is 7 p.m. at Interbay Stadium for the Senior Night game.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2018
Terry Fox Field / Burnaby, B.C.
 
at (#1) Simon Fraser 2, Seattle Pacific 1
 
Scoring – 1, SF, Lucas McIlween (unassisted), 1:29; 2, SPU, Alden Massey (Titus Grant, Alex Mejia), 17:55; 3, SF, own goal, 62:41.
 
                       1   2  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific        1   0  --    1
Simon Fraser           1   1  --    2
 
Shots – SPU 6, SF 18.
Shots on Goal – SPU 3, SF 5.
Saves –SPU 4 (Lars Helleren), SF 2 (Luciano Trasolini).
Corner kicks – SPU 6, SF 12.
Fouls – SPU 8, SF 4.
Offsides – SPU 0, SF 0.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 8-9-0, 4-6-0 GNAC
Simon Fraser 15-0-0, 9-0-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Seattle Pacific at Western Washington
Saturday, Oct. 27, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.