MONMOUTH,  Ore. – All season long, Aidan Thrall has done plenty to give his teammates opportunities to score.
 
On Thursday afternoon, the Seattle Pacific junior got an opportunity of his own …
 
… and made it count for his first-ever college goal.
 
Thrall converted a corner kick from Connor Tollan just three minutes into the second half, and that was all the Falcons needed for a 1-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer victory at Western Oregon.
 
 

"He's a big part of how we attack," SPU head coach said of Thrall. "This year alone, he has drawn three or four penalty kicks, so maybe he's not on the stat line, but he's creating opportunities for us. It's nice to see him get rewarded on the set piece today."
 
The Falcons (7-5-6, 6-2-3—21 points GNAC) won their third straight game and got a result for the seventh time in the last eight (4-1-3).
 
Senior goalkeeper Lars Helleren needed to make just one save to pick up his eighth shutout of the season.
 
"It was good to get the goal to go one up," Sakuda said. "I felt like there were moments when we could have done a better job managing the game. But credit to the guys – they stuck with it and closed it out."
 
On the goal-scoring play, Tollan took the corner kick from the left wing side. Instead of a drive into the penalty area, it was a short one, along the ground out to the top. Thrall, playing about 25 yards up from the net, drilled a left-footed shot that slipped just inside the left post, barely beyond the reach of Wolves goalkeeper Juan Suarez.
 
 

"That felt great – I've been looking for it all season," Thrall said. "I love drawing PKs and just giving them away (to a teammate), but it definitely felt really good to get a goal for myself."
 
Added Sakuda, "He's a handful up there taking players on. So even though he didn't score those (PKs), he's a big part of them."
 
Thrall also was in on a play just 5½ minutes into the game that nearly had SPU on the board. Playing down the left side, he crossed it out to Owen Gortner for a wide-open shot at the top of the box. But Suarez made a diving save to keep it scoreless.
 
Western Oregon (2-13-2, 1-10-1—4 points GNAC), playing the final game of its inaugural season, had its best chance of the day late in the 57^th minute. Jayden Cameron had back-to-back shots from the top of the box. The first one went into traffic and was blocked, rebounding right back to him. He tried again, this time from the top right corner of the 6-yard box. But Falcons defender Colby Nelson was there to kick off the line near the center of the goal.
 
That helped preserve the team's ninth shutout of the season.
 
"It has been the whole team defending," Sakuda said. "Obviously, Lars and the back four play a huge part. But it starts with the guys up top and the attitude about how they press."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons wound up with a 19-7 advantage in shots for the game. They did not allow Western Oregon a shot during the first half while firing off 10 of their own.
-- Forward Owen Gortner had nine of those 19 SPU shots, with two of them on frame.
-- Seattle Pacific swept the season series from Western Oregon, having won 2-0 at home on Sept. 22.
-- That will go down as the only sweep. The Falcons went 1-0-1 against Montana State Billings and Saint Martin's, and 1-1 against Simon Fraser and Western Washington.
 
UP NEXT
SPU has a chance to finish 1-0-1 against Northwest Nazarene when it visits Nampa, Idaho, on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time in Nampa, Idaho. The two teams played to a 0-0 tie on Oct. 13 in Seattle. The Nighthawks (12-3-2, 8-2-1—25 points GNAC) took a big step toward clinching the conference crown on Thursday with a come-from-behind 2-1 against Western Washington, tying the game with 1:15 to play, then getting the winner with 28 seconds left.
 

NCAA MEN'S SOCCER
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022
WOU Soccer Field / Monmouth, Ore.
 
Seattle Pacific 1, Western Oregon 0
 
Scoring – 1, SPU: Aidan Thrall, from Connor Tollan, 47:59.
 
Shots – SPU 17, WOU 9.
Saves – SPU (Lars Helleren) 1, WOU (Juan Suarez) 6.
Corner kicks – SPU 8, WOU 0.
Fouls – SPU 9, WOU 16.
Offsides – SPU 2, WOU 1.
Cautions – SPU: Colby Nelson, 8:15; Judah Johnson 44:34; Aidan Chaparro, 87:07; SPU bench, 88:32; WOU: Cade Ficek, 28:06; Ben Mitcheson, 35:51.
Ejections – None.
Attendance – 89.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 7-5-6, 6-2-3—21 points GNAC.
Western Oregon 2-13-2, 1-10-1—4 points GNAC.
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Northwest Nazarene
Saturday, 3:00 p.m. PDT
NNU Soccer Field / Nampa,  Idaho