• FINAL STATS (html)   |   • VIDEO: Titus  Grant
• PHOTO GALLERY

SEATTLE – Titus Grant scored the first goal and assisted on the second Thursday night, leading the Seattle Pacific men to a 2-1 victory over Hawaii Pacific in their soccer home opener at Interbay Stadium.
 
Grant netted his team-leading second goal of the season, in the 11th minute, and joined Mario Vukic in setting up Jake Ferry's strike less than four minutes into the second half.
 
HPU cut the deficit in half in the 54th minute, but the Falcons (2-3) held on for their second straight win. Grant also fired the opening salvo in Saturday's 2-1 victory at Point Loma.
 
Alden Massey initiated the first score Thursday, delivering a through ball that set his teammate free. Grant raced into the left side of the box and chipped a 16-yard shot over the onrushing goalkeeper at 10:39.
 
"Hopefully Titus can keep it going. For us to be successful we really need him to score goals," SPU coach Mark Collings said of his sophomore forward. "I know that puts pressure on him, but he is in some ways the most seasoned guy we have up there."
 
 
That 1-0 score line held into intermission after after each team attempted six shots during the first half.
 
At 48:29 the Falcons got their second goal. Grant found Vukic (Bainbridge HS) in the center of the box for a quick, low pass toward the far post. Ferry (Redmond HS) slid to push the ball inside the right post for his second tally of the year.

 

"That's what Jake does, he finds a way to put himself in positions to score," Collings described. "His pace obviously is something that helps us quite a bit to stretch other teams out. If we can get him going it gives us another really good option to put the ball in the back of the net."
 
The goal made up for an errant 39th-minute effort by Ferry, who pushed a point-blank shot over the crossbar after Sam Rucklos found him free near the 12-yard spot.
 
The Sharks' goal came at 53:23 after SPU's goalkeeper and defender got crossed up. They converged outside the box, but the ball squirted between them to Makana Srivongsana, retrieved it for a 15-yard finish into the open goal.
 
"We're still figuring some things out," Collings said. "Any time there is a ball like that, you can have those moments where one little mistake or lapse in communication leads to an opportunity for the opposition and that's what happened tonight."
 
HPU (1-1) had a quality chance in the 76th minute off the foot of Luiz Garcia. His shot, after a dribbling run into the box, traveled wide of the left post.
 
Red-shirt freshman goalkeeper Lars Helleren (Kings's HS) was credited with two saves for the Falcons, who outshot the visitors by a slim 11-10 margin.
 
Chandler Schur denied three shots for the Sharks. He robbed SPU's Chris Cole in the 37th minute with a great shot stop off another play created by Ferry, with a ball across the box.
 
"I thought we had one at the end of the half when Jake found Chris. The goalkeeper made a spectacular save," Collings said.
 
The Seattle Pacific men remain home to host Hawaii Hilo on Saturday at 7 p.m. That is just their second contest at Interbay Stadium in the first 10 games of the season as they embark on another four-game road trip next week.
 
Saturday night's contest features a halftime ceremony to honor numerous former Falcons in attendance as they celebrate 50 years of SPU men's soccer.

 

"What an amazing night it will be to welcome everybody home. With the response that we've had it will probably be the biggest collection of SPU soccer alums that we've ever had at one time," said Collings, who played for the Falcons from 1995-98, served five years as an assistant on the staff and is now in his 11th season as head coach.
 
"That will be really fun for our current guys and great for our university, to have everybody here together to celebrate all the great memories they've had."
 
The Falcons captured five NCAA Division II national championships, in 1978, 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1993. They own national records for consecutive winning seasons (27 form 1972-2007), total playoff berths (34) and championship game appearances (10).
 
"The coolest thing about our program isn't just about winning games, it's built on so much more. The friendships run so deep," Collings continued. "What this program has meant not only to our university, but to our city and our community, it's really inspiring. To be able to have them all here at the stadium will be unbelievable."
 
THROW-INS
• Underclassmen accounted for all of the Falcons points Thursday with sophomore Titus Grant getting a goal and assist and red-shirt freshman Jake Ferry scoring the other goal while true freshmen Alden Massey and Mario Vukic each distributed an assist.
 
• That continued a trend as underclassmen netted five of SPU's seven goals this season, three from sophomores and two from red-shirt freshman Ferry. The other two scores came from juniors Jason Schmidt and Samuel Agyei.

NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
 
at Seattle Pacific 2, Hawaii Pacific 1
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Titus Grant (Alden Massey), 10:39; 2, SPU, Jake Ferry (Mario Vukic, Grant), 48:29; 3, HPU, Makana Srivongsana (unassisted), 53:23.
 
                          1   2  --  TOTAL
Hawaii Pacific            0   1  --    1
Seattle Pacific           1   1  --    2
 
Shots – HPU 10, SPU 11.
Shots on Goal – HPU 3, SPU 5.
Saves – HPU 3 (Chandler Schur), SPU 2 (Lars Helleren).
Corner kicks – HPU 3, SPU 1.
Fouls – HPU 9, SPU 11.
Offsides – HPU 2, SPU 2.
 
Records
Hawaii Pacific 1-1-0
Seattle Pacific 2-3-0
 
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Hawaii Hilo at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, Sept. 15, 7:00 p.m. PDT
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.