THE SCHEDULE 
Thursday, Aug. 25                               Chico State at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. 
                                                                Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats 
 
Saturday, Aug. 27                                Sonoma State at Seattle Pacific, 3:00 p.m. 
                                                                Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats 
 
Saturday, Sept. 3                                 West Texas A&M at Seattle Pacific, 7:00 p.m. 
                                                                Interbay Stadium / Seattle, Wash. 
                                                                Live Webcast        Live stats 
 

SEATTLE – One year after getting a taste of the postseason, the Seattle Pacific Falcons are back for more. 
 
Coming off a Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Division II West Regionals, SPU takes the first steps toward what it hopes will be even bigger things when it opens the 2022 men's soccer schedule with a trio of non-conference home games. 
 
Up first is Chico State, which visits Interbay Stadium on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. Then on Saturday, Sonoma State is in town for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff. West Texas A&M  comes to town next Saturday, Sept. 3, for a 7:00 p.m. that will be the second half of a women's men's doubleheader. 
 
Last fall, Seattle Pacific beat their California counterparts on the road to begin the season, 2-1 at Sonoma, and 1-0 in overtime at Chico. That got the Falcons started on the way to a 12-4-2 overall record. 
 
FOLLOW IT LIVE 
Both games will have a free live Webcast and live stats. The appropriate links can be found at the top of this story. 
 
FALCONS PICKED FOR 3RD 
SPU has been picked for a third-place finish in the GNAC preseason coaches poll that was announced on Aug. 16. The Falcons received one of the seven first-place votes, and wound up with 37 points in the polling. 
 
​Simon Fraser comes into the season as the favorite, with five first-place votes and 47 points. Western Washington received the other first-place vote and collected 40 points. 
 
The GNAC will have seven if its 10 schools sponsoring men's soccer this year, with the addition of Western Oregon, which is getting ready for its inaugural season. 
 
Seattle Pacific, Simon Fraser, and Western Washington were the top three teams in the conference last fall, with the Falcons going 6-2-2 for 20 points. Simon was 6-4-0 for 18 points, and Western was 5-3-2 for 17. SPU went 1-1-0 against Simon and 1-0-1 against WWU. The Vikings and Simon went 1-1-0 against each other, with both games being decided in overtime. 
 
NO MORE 'INTERIM' FOR COACH SAKUDA 
When the Falcons take the field, it will mark the start of Kevin Sakuda's second season at the helm – and his first as the official full-time head coach. 
 
   
The "interim" tag was removed after the season and he was named full-time head coach last Nov. 23. 
 
Even though he had to hit the ground running on short notice, Sakuda guided the Falcons to one of their best seasons, winning the GNAC crown and earning a spot in the NCAA Tournament. 
 
At season's end, Sakuda was named the GNAC Coach of the Year. 
 
SO WHAT'S THE STORY THIS WEEK? 
-- This is the 55th season of men's soccer at Seattle Pacific, dating  back to 1968. 
-- The Falcons are 34-11-9 all-time in season openers. 
-- Excluding the 2020 season, which was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, this will be the sixth straight time that the Falcons have gone against Sonoma State and Chico State in the first two games, kicking off the season four times against the Seawolves and twice against the Wildcats. SPU swept on the road in 2021, was swept on the road in 2018, went 1-1 in 2017 at home, and was 0-1-1 in 2016 on the road. 
-- Then there was 2019 in Seattle. After a double-overtime tie against Sonoma on Sept. 5, the Falcons had a 1-0 lead against Chico State when the game was halted by lightning after 34 minutes, 44 seconds of play. The teams went to their locker rooms, and fans were cleared from the stands. After nearly two hours, the game was declared a no-contest. Because of their respective conference schedules, the teams were unable to make up the game at a later date.  
-- Returning senior midfielder Tyler Speer had the assist on the first goal in SPU's 2-1 season-opening victory at Sonoma State last Sept. 2. Now-graduated Alex Mejia scored both goals against the Seawolves. 
-- Chico State has been the second-most frequent non-conference opponent on Seattle Pacific's schedule – 45 times. 
-- The 1-0 overtime victory last Sept. 4 in Chico leveled the all-time series at 21-21-3. 
-- The only non-conference team the Falcons have faced more often is the University of Washington, having played the Huskies 54 times. 
-- SPU has 97 victories against teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association. The overall record is 97-44-21. 
-- The game against West Texas A&M on Sept. 3 will be one of two against teams ranked in the national preseason top 25. The Buffs are ranked No. 17. Colorado Mines, which hosts the Falcons on Sept. 10 at the end of a two-game road trip, is No. 20 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. 
 


SCOUTING THE CHICO STATE WILDCATS: 6-12-0, 5-6-0 CCAA (6^th in 2021) 
All-time series: Tied, 21-21-3.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time: SPU 1, Chico 0, OT (Sept. 4, 2021 at Chico, Calif.).  Wildcats on the Web. 
​Wildcats in a nutshell: Goals were hard to come by for Chico State last fall, as it tallied just 12 in 18 games. More than half of those came from forward Jacob Chong, now a senior. He found the back of the net seven times. Cooper Renteria, who completed his career, was the only other multiple-goal scorer with two, and three players had once each. Liam Duerksen, a midfielder who is now a junior, racked up eight assists. Luis Albarron, who is heading into is junior year, played every minute of all 18 games, logging three shutouts, a 1.10 goals-against average, and a .796 save percentage. 
 
SCOUTING THE SONOMA STATE SEAWOLVES: 9-9-1, 5-5-1 CCAA (5^th in 2021) 
All-time series: SPU leads, 15-3-6.  Current series streak: SPU won 1.  Last time:  SPU 2, SSU 1 (Sept. 2, 2021 at Rohnert Park, Calif.)  Seawolves on the Web. 
​Seawolves in a nutshell: Sonoma State finished last season on a four-game winning streak with three shutouts before falling 2-0 at San Francisco State in the first round of the CCAA Tournament. Sean Rohane, a junior at midfield who tied for the team lead with seven goals, is back. His first one of the year came in the season-opener against SPU on Sept. 2 when he converted a penalty kick. Rohane also led the Seawolves with eight assists and 22 total points. He went on to earn All-CCAA second-team recognition. The only other multiple-goal returner is redshirt junior forward Mateo Paqua, who scored twice. Back in goal is sophomore Reiner ter Riet. He was between the pipes for 15 of last year's 19 games, with 14 starts. He posted three shutouts with a 1.07 goals-against average and a .778 save percentage. 
 
SCOUTING THE WEST TEXAS A&M BUFFS: 14-4-1, 6-2-0 Lone Star (2^nd in 2021) 
All-time series: SPU leads, 2-1-1.  Current series streak: WTAM won 1.  Last time: WTAM 3, SPU 0 (Sept. 16, 2019 at Canyon, Texas).  Buffs on the Web.  Buffs in a nutshell: West Texas A&M reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2021, scoring a 3-2 victory against Azusa Pacific in the first round, then tying 2-2 against Cal Poly Pomona, but dropping the penalty kick tiebreaker, 4-2. The Buffs knew how to find the net, scoring 47 goals, spread among 13 players. Of those 13 players, 12 are returning, including senior midfielder Giancarlo Saldana, who led the way with a dozen goals (four of which were game-winners), along with four assists. Senior forward Denis Herrera added six goals, with three game-winners. Sophomore midfielder Ben Siri topped the team with seven assists, to go along with two goals. Tom Miles, now a sophomore, saw most of the action in goal last fall, playing in all 19 games with 17 starts. He posted a 1.68 goals-against average and .638 save percentage with one shutout. 
 
SCOUTING THE 2022 FALCONS 
Coming off a stellar year that ended with a Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Seattle Pacific comes into the 2022 campaign with some solid goal-stopping power, but will be counting on different players to step up with some goal-scoring power. 

 

The back part of the field starts in the net with fifth-year goalkeeper Lars Helleren, who is taking advantage of the additional season of eligibility from the pandemic-forced cancelation of the 2020 schedule. Helleren is the reigning GNAC Defender of the Year, having allowed just 19 goals in 18 games (1.04 goals-against average). He played all but 45 of the 1,691 minutes logged by the Falcons last fall. Helleren had six shutouts and a .774 save percentage. 
 
 

Among those in front of him will be Evan Aune and Aidan Thrall, both juniors. Aune started 17 of the 18 games he played, and Thrall answered the opening whistle in 16 of his 17 games. Thrall, who also assisted on four Seattle Pacific goals, earned All-GNAC honorable mention status. 
 
Also returning at defender are senior Ed Weise and junior Donovahn Allen. Both got into seven games last year, with Weise starting all of his. 
 
Of the 37 goals SPU scored in 2021, players who accounted for 25 of them graduated, including GNAC Player of the Year Alex Mejia, who tallied 14. Others who finished their Falcon careers were midfielders Travis Swallow (five goals) and Jose Benavides (one), forward Titus Grant (three), and defender Nik Reierson (two). All four of those players were All-GNAC. 
 
 

Topping the list of returners up front are senior forward Alden Massey and junior forward Judah Johnston. Massey, an All-GNAC first-team selection, punched in six goals and assisted on three others, good for 15 points. His goal and points totals were the second-highest on the team. Johnston added four goals. 
 
A pair of starting midfielders and three other letterwinners at that position are returning to the field. Senior midfielder Tyler Speer started 16 of his 18 games and racked up a team-high five assists. Sophomore Demian Alvarez played all 18 games with 12 starts. 
 
Senior Aidan Chaparro, junior Joey Van Horn, and sophomore Aaron Stapleton are back in the midfield, as well. 
 
Joining all of those veterans will be a crop of 10 incoming freshmen – nine of them from the state of Washington – and four eligible redshirts. 
 
AROUND THE WEST 
While Simon Fraser is the preseason pick to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, coaches in the other two West Region conferences also have done their voting.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Cal State Los Angeles and Cal Poly Pomona are nearly dead-even. The Eagles received seven of the 12 first-place votes and 138 points. Pomona is close behind with the other five firsts and 134 points. Then it's a drop of 20 points to third-place pick Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 
SPU's two opponents this week are middle-of-the-pack picks. Chico State came in fifth with 80 points, and Sonoma State was eighth with 70.
 
In the Pacific West Conference, Azusa Pacific is a very slight favorite. The Cougars picked up seven of the 11 first-place votes and 114 points. Right on their heels is Point Loma Nazarene with the other four firsts and 108 points. The Sea Lions visit SPU on Sept. 15. Not far behind in third is Biola with 101. Concordia Irvine, the final preseason opponent for the Falcons on Sept. 17, is fourth with 89.
 
UP NEXT 
After starting the season with three straight home games, the Falcons will head out for a two-game road trip to Colorado to continue non-conference play. First up is a game at Regis in Denver on Thursday, Sept. 8 at 6:00 p.m. Pacific time. Then it's a quick jaunt west to Golden and a contest at Colorado Mines on Sept. 10 at 5:00 p.m. PDT.