SEATTLE –
Alex Mejia scored his league-leading 14th goal to level the score, but 18th-ranked Seattle Pacific couldn't find another and settled for a 1-1 double-overtime tie with Western Washington in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer clash at Interbay Stadium.
In their final home game, the Falcons (11-2-2) moved their league ledger to 5-1-2 to remain in a first-place tie with a Western.
The teams stay even atop the GNAC standings with 17 points apiece. SPU has a game-in-hand, playing two road games next week. Western has just one game remaining.
"All year we've talked about wanting to control our own destiny and that's right where we are," said SPU interim head coach
Kevin Sakuda. "Our message hasn't really changed from the start of the year, just be better tomorrow. We get back to work Monday to prepare for Thursday."
The Falcons could clinch at least a co-championship with a win at Saint Martin's on Thursday as the league does not perform a tiebreaker to determine the conference title.
A tiebreaker format will, however, go in effect to determine the GNAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament and SPU wins that by virtue of a win in the first head-to-head meeting with WWU. The Falcons were 2-0 victors on October 14 in Bellingham.
The Vikings got on the board first, in the 21st minute Saturday. A pass from Gilbert De La Luz at the center of the field found Alex Whiting open, streaking into the left side of the box. Whiting took a couple touches before curving a 14-yard shot into the top-right side of the SPU goal.
Six minutes later, the Falcons found an equalizer. A WWU foul 10 yards outside the box on the top-right side granted the hosts a free kick.
Titus Grant served the kick into the box where Mejia rose in heavy traffic to deliver an eight-yard header just under the crossbar at the center of the goal at 26:25.
ALEX MEJIA GOAL
That was the league-leading 14th goal for the senior forward, giving him the highest single-season scoring output by a Falcon since Tyler Schultz had 16 goals in 2011. Mejia notched at least one goal in 11 of his 15 outings this season.
"He's driven and he's focused this year," Sakuda described. "Alex puts himself in good places in front of the goal and he's just a physical presence that's really hard to deal with.
"I've been most impressed that he's scored goals in all kinds of ways this year. The consistency that he's done it with is pretty special."
Senior goalkeeper
Lars Helleren stopped two shots SPU. His Western counterpart, Brandon Locke, finished with seven saves and several of them were of the spectacular variety.
The final shot count was 18-17 in favor of the Falcons, who were more accurate with an 8-3 advantage in attempts directly on goal.
OVERTIME RECAP
SPU had three great chances in overtime while posting a 4-3 shot edge in the two 10-minute extra sessions.
Just over three minutes into the first, 10-minute overtime, Mejia had an open lane. He blasted a 15-yard shot but Locke dove to his right to deflected the ball away from danger.
Just 53 seconds remained in that overtime when
Travis Swallow delivered an over-head kick with his back to the goal that traveled just wide of the right post.
With 1:59 left in the last overtime,
Judah Johnston lined a shot from two yards outside the box that went inches wide of the left post.
Western's best overtime attempt was an 106th-minute shot by Eric Bunnell that was on target, but slightly deflected by an SPU defender, slowing the ball to create a routine save for Helleren.
REGULATION SUMMARY
Other than the first-half goal by each team, both had quality chances during regulation.
A 15th-minute, free kick by Drew Farnsworth from two yards outside the top of the box was fired just wide of the upper-right corner.
Mejia had a header in the 23rd minute off a right-side corner kick was aiming for the top of the WWU goal before Locke quickly reacted by leaping and pushing the ball over the crossbar.
The best opportunity for either team came in the 56th minute and was generated by the Vikings. A free kick by Johan Espinoza hit the right post and it caromed to the center of the goal where teammate Theo Steinmetz missed the open goal on the follow with an attempt that sailed wide to the right.
Two minutes later is was SPU's turn again. Mejia hit a shot from inside the box that deflected off a defender and trickled inches wide of the right post.
"It was kind of a typical rivalry game, back-and-forth," said Sakuda. "We felt like we had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of.
"For all of us, we would have like to get that senior group a win, but we get a point out of it and move on to next week. We just have to take care of things against Saint Martin's and Northwest Nazarene."
SENIOR NIGHT CEREMONY
SENIOR NIGHT
Before Saturday's game eight departing Falcons were honored with a pregame Senior Night ceremony. Two of those players contributed to the lone goal with
Titus Grant assisting on
Alex Mejia's tally.
That duo was joined in the festivities by classmates
Musa Ali,
Jose Benavides,
Jake Ferry,
Jordan Greenshield,
Nik Reierson and
Travis Swallow. They all played their final home game at Interbay Stadium.
NEXT GAME
The Seattle Pacific men close out their regular-season schedule next week with visits to Saint Martin's on Thursday and Northwest Nazarene next Saturday (Nov. 13).
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, November 6, 2021
Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash.
at #18 Seattle Pacific 1, Western Washington 1 (2ot)
Scoring – 1, WWU, Alex Whiting (Gilbert De La Luz, Alessandro Tomasi), 20:30; 2, SPU,
Alex Mejia (
Titus Grant), 26:25.
1 2 OT OT -- TOTAL
Western Washington 1 0 0 0 -- 1
Seattle Pacific 1 0 0 0 -- 1
Shots – WWU 17, SPU 18.
Shots on Goal – WWU 3, SPU 8.
Saves – WWU 7 (Brandon Locke), SPU 2 (
Lars Helleren).
Corner Kicks – WWU 4, SPU 11.
Fouls – WWU 20, SPU 21.
Offsides – WWU 0, SPU 0.
Records
Western Washington 7-7-2, 5-2-2 GNAC
Seattle Pacific 11-2-2, 5-1-2 GNAC
Next SPU Men's Soccer Game
(#18) Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's
Thursday, November 11, 2:00 p.m.
SMU Soccer Field / Lacey, Wash.
