• FINAL STATS (html)

NAMPA, Idaho – Rafael Junqueira scored a goal in each half Thursday afternoon for Northwest Nazarene, which defeated the Seattle Pacific men 2-0 at NNU Soccer Field in the first Great Northwest Athletic Conference game for both teams.
 
The Falcons (3-4-0) had their three-game winning streak stopped and were shut out for the first time since the season opener.
 
"We just weren't very good today and I need to be put in that as well," said SPU coach Mark Collings. "We came out and had some good spells, put some good pressure on and eight corner kicks in the first half."
 
SPU controlled the early run of play and had a trio of quality attempts at goal, but all three were denied by Nighthawks goalkeeper Jacob Hillyer. He finished with four total saves to secure his team's initial shutout of the season.
 
NNU (1-5-1) also picked up its first win of the year.
 
Falcons sophomore Travis Swallow had two dangerous chances in the opening 45 minutes. His shot nine minutes into the contest forced Hillyer to dive left for the save. In the 32nd minute, Swallow directed a 15-yard strike at the goal, but the NNU goalkeeper was able to smother the shot.
 
 "We ended up giving a goal right before halftime and that took a little bit out of us," Collings described. "We didn't push the right buttons today. We became pretty predictable and one dimensional."
 
The Nighthawks broke the scoreless deadlock just 13 seconds before halftime.
 
A Falcons foul on the right edge of the box set up a free kick by Alex Mitrovic. He served a cross that Junqueira headed toward the far post and into the top right corner at 44:47.

 

"The goal changed the game a little bit for sure. It gave them some confidence," said Collings. "Did I feel like we were beat by it? No, not at all. I certainly expected us to put on a little better performance in the second half than we did.
 
"They maybe just forced us to press a little bit more than we needed to and we started opening ourselves up and giving up some easy opportunities in transition."
 
The teams went into intermission with matching six-shot totals.
 
The shot count tilted heavily in NNU's favor during the second half, a 12-5 advantage.
 
Falcons freshman defender Ed Weise (Eastlake HS) eliminated a scary situation during a goalmouth scramble in the 64th minute. In heavy traffic, he booted the ball over the endline for a Nighthawks goal kick.
 
The ensuing set piece was delivered to Dominic Abdel-Ahad, whose shot caromed off the crossbar.
 
Junqueira notched his second goal at 82:50 after SPU goalkeeper Lars Helleren deflected the ball out of the goal area. The Nighthawks Jake Levine gathered the loose ball and dribbled toward the end line on the left side before slipping a low pass across the goalmouth. Junqueira slid to knock the ball in for his third goal of the season.
 
Helleren, a freshman from King's High School in Shoreline, Washington, collected five of his six saves after halftime.
 
Despite not finding the back of the net, the Falcons spent a great deal of time in the Nighthawks end and accumulated 14 corner kicks to just four for the hosts.
 
SPU remains on the road with a game in Portland, Oregon on Saturday at 4 p.m. against Concordia.
 
"A big part of preparing for that game is learning how to take care of our bodies. We're playing a team that didn't play today," Collings said. "So we get a fresh Concordia team on Saturday.
 
"It was warm here so we put out quite a bit of energy. The big thing will be managing our bodies and taking a look at who the best guys to put out there to start the game on Saturday. We need to look at the lineup, get the guys' minds right, learn from today and see how we can execute at a higher level."
 
Saturday marks the 1,000th game in the history of the program, which celebrated 50 years of Seattle Pacific men's soccer last Saturday with a reunion of numerous former players and staff.
 
The Falcons have a 627-254-118 all-time record, good for a 68.7 winning percentage. They won five national championships and own NCAA Division II records for consecutive winning seasons (37), total playoff berths (34) and championship game appearances (10).
 
The next home game for SPU is Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. against U-Mary. That starts a stretch of six straight games at Interbay Stadium.
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Sept. 20, 2018
NNU Soccer Field / Nampa, Idaho
 
at Northwest Nazarene 2, Seattle Pacific 0
 
Scoring – 1, NNU, Rafael Junqueira (Alex Mitrovic), 44:47; 2, NNU, Junqueira (Jake Levine), 82:50.
 
                          1   2  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific           0   0  --    0
Northwest Nazarene        1   1  --    2
 
Shots – SPU 11, NNU 18.
Shots on Goal – SPU 4, NNU 8.
Saves – SPU 6 (Lars Helleren), NNU 4 (Jacob Hillyer).
Corner kicks – SPU 14, NNU 4.
Fouls – SPU 10, NNU 6.
Offsides – SPU 1, NNU 3.
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 3-4-0, 0-1-0 GNAC
Northwest Nazarene 1-5-1, 1-0-0 GNAC
 
 
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
Seattle Pacific at Concordia (Ore.)
Saturday, Sept. 22, 4:00 p.m. PDT
Tuominen Yard / Portland, Ore.