BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Travis Swallow scored a brilliant early goal for Seattle Pacific, but Western Washington equalized with just over a minute to play Saturday and the Northwest men's soccer rivals settled for a 1-1 draw in the final game of the season for both teams at Harrington Field.
 
"It was two very good teams competing really hard at the end of a long season. That's probably a justified result with a draw," said Mark Collings, who concluded his 13th season as the SPU head coach.
 
"Both teams had their moments. Early, I thought we were good, then they had a run and we had a run. When you play good teams that's what is going to happen, it's weathering the storm. Unfortunately, we couldn't close it out, but our guys definitely put it all out there today."
 
After a three-game winning streak, the Falcons (3-2-1) completed the unique 2021 spring season with a tie and loss to the same opponent following a 2-1 setback versus WWU last Saturday (May 8) in Seattle.
 
Western (3-1-1) scored early in the last meeting. It was SPU's turn to strike first in the rematch, finding joy on its first shot exactly six minutes into the contest.
 
Tyler Speer initiated the opening goal from the Falcons defensive half. His lengthy pass along the sideline found Alex Mejia streaking down the left flank. Mejia dribbled into the box and danced over the ball, clearing an opening to feed a low back pass. Swallow raced to reach the ball one yard outside the top of the box and first-timed a right-footed shot into the top-left corner.
 
"A really good ball in transition from Speer up the wing and then a great ball in. Boy, what a classy finish by Travis," Collings exclaimed.

TRAVIS SWALLOW GOAL

That one-goal lead held into halftime as SPU had a slim 5-3 shot advantage through the first 45 minutes.
 
Just when it appeared that lone goal would be sufficient, the hosts forced overtime with just 1:07 displayed on the second-half clock.
 
Gus Diehl lofted a ball into the box from 40 yards out. Camron Miller made a lateral run and rose to head the ball into the upper right corner from just inside the penalty spot for the Vikings equalizer.
 
Neither team could find a goal during the two, 10-minute overtime sessions. But the overtime was eventful.
 
With six minutes left in the final overtime SPU's Titus Grant was knocked down 10 yards out on the left side of the goalmouth, but no foul was whistled.
 
Three minutes later WWU spotted a free kick two yards outside the box on the left side. Georg Cholewa struck a shot destined for the upper left corner that was snatched by Helleren.
 
 

With five seconds left to play, Grant booted the ball from just behind the center line. The ball sailed toward the goal where keeper Patrick Restum caught it two yards from two yards out as time expired.
 
Restum was credited with four saves for Western, including a fine play coming off his line two minutes before halftime. The Falcons Jake Ferry broke free on the dribble and tried to slide a shot to the right side, but it was smothered by the WWU goalkeeper.
 
Lars Helleren registered a season-high eight saves for SPU in only 65 minutes of play. He is the regular starting goalkeeper, but came off the bench Saturday to sub for Matt Samson.
 
Two minutes into the second half WWU's Drew Farnsworth got open deep in the area, but Helleren raced off his line to block the shot at the top of his 6-yard box.
 
"They started really dumping balls into the box and putting a lot of balls in behind us and Lars' positioning was great.," Collings said. "We talked about our goalkeepers needing to be ready to come off their line and deal with things. He did a great job of getting there to take some things away."
 
A 14-7 advantage after halftime provided a 17-12 total shot margin for the Vikings.

Successful Season
The 2020-21 season came to an end six months later than usual as the traditional college soccer season runs from late August into November. The 2020 fall season was canceled due to the pandemic, which also nixed the league schedule. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference announced in January that it was not going to conduct a soccer season, nor declare a champion.
 
 

It was up to the coaching staff to cobble together a schedule for the unique spring session that would count as an official season for record-keeping purposes. Two games were canceled and an additional two games were added versus non-NCAA Division II opponents.
 
Despite the year of turmoil, Collings was thrilled with his team's improvement.
 
"We're really happy with the development of our team. When we started out in January, we said that, 'Yes the results matter, but our team needs to get better.' We needed to get every player better, to have our team culture get better and to have a better understanding of our system and how we want to do things. We did that.
 
"This season, this winter and spring, is a huge success for us. We took a lot of big steps forward and we are really set to have a great run at it this fall."
 
NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Saturday, May 15, 2021
Harrington Field / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 1, at Western Washington 1 (2ot)
 
Scoring – 1, SPU, Travis Swallow (Alex Mejia), 6:00; 2, WWU, Camron Miller (Gus Diehl), 88:53.
 
                       1   2  OT  OT  --  TOTAL
Seattle Pacific        1   0   0   0  --    1
Western Washington     0   1   0   0  --    1
 
Shots – SPU 12, WWU 17.
Shots on Goal – SPU 5, WWU 9.
Saves – SPU 8 (Matt Samson 0, Lars Helleren 8), WWU 4 (Patrick Restum).
Corner Kicks – SPU 7, WWU 4.
Fouls – SPU 21, WWU 17.
Offsides – SPU 3, WWU 1.
 
Records
Western Washington 3-1-1
Seattle Pacific 3-2-1