Making waves to making saves. ... Claiming a national championship to capturing a big game against a nationally ranked opponent. ... Reaching the record book to reaching a 'grand' scoring milestone. ... Bouncing back from near defeat to pull out a volleyball victory to speeding back from a scary incident to win a track race. Seattle Pacific athletes and teams did all of those things and more during the just-completed 2022-23 academic year. Through the next two weeks, we'll relive some of those special moments through a series of "Falcon Favorites" stories.
PREVIOUS CHAPTERS
Monday, June 19: Women's rowing 3rd at NCAAs
Tuesday, June 20: Wittrell wins in his return to the track
Wednesday, June 21: Aniteye races to NCAA 800-meter title
Thursday, June 22: Falcon women knock off Anchorage in GNAC Tourney
Friday, June 23: Record-setting day for men's indoor 4x400 relay
Monday, June 26: Anderson, Alter reach 1,000-point milestone
Tuesday, June 27: Falcon men edge No. 23 Saint Martin's, 92-87
October 29, 2022
SEATTLE – The Seattle Pacific University men's soccer team honored seven seniors before their match against Western Washington on Saturday night, as seniors showed out early and often with three of the seven seniors contributing to a 2-0 victory for the Falcons.
Lars Helleren, Ed Weise, Cade Cooke, Aidan Chaparro, Alden Massey, Owen Gortner, and Colby Nelson were celebrated before Saturday's match.
"Tonight was great," head coach Kevin Sakuda said. "We talked about honoring this group of seniors before the match. The best way we could go about doing that was being at our best tonight. I thought we were fantastic."
After the ceremony, the team was calm and collected in their demeanor. They kept the Vikings from taking a shot in the first half. The Falcons decided the match with a great second-half performance.
Two Falcon seniors teamed up for a thrilling goal in the 56th minute. Massey juked a defender inside the 18-yard box before sending it in front of the goal. The keeper jumped up to grab the ball, but it slipped through his hands. Gortner got his chest to it, sending it in the net to put the Falcons up 1-0.
Gortner wasn't finished. In the 77th minute, Weise created another scoring opportunity for his classmate. Gortner worked the ball in through the right side of the 18-yard box before ripping a shot past the keeper for his second goal of the match. The Falcons owned a 2-0 lead with just over 13 minutes left to play.
"The most special part of that, was that it was the senior group that led the way," Sakuda added. "Across the board, they were able to drive this thing. Really excited for those guys and happy they had that moment. Credit to our guys. They were fantastic."
The Falcons return to Interbay on Monday for a rescheduled match against Saint Martin's at 1 p.m.
