BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Seattle Pacific University men's soccer team traveled north for a highly-anticipated Great Northwest Athletic Conference match against Western Washington on Thursday night when the Falcons fell in the final seconds to the Vikings, 2-1.
"Overall, it was a really good game between two teams that have a lot of history with each other," head coach Kevin Sakuda said. "Credit to Western, they capitalized on a key moment, and that was the difference It's always tough when you concede so late, but for most of that game, especially in the second half, we played pretty well. The margins are so thin in this league, and we will grow from this."
Thursday's match between the Falcons and Vikings figured to tightly contested. The two teams first met on Oct. 5 and tied 2-2 in Seattle. There wasn't much separation between them in the rematch. WWU had a slight 10-9 advantage in shots and a 4-3 advantage in shots on goal. The match came down to a crucial moment in the final minute.
SPU committed a foul in the box in the final minute. It created a penalty kick for WWU's Kaydin Wall. He stepped up and made it to give the home team a 2-1 lead with 40 seconds to play. With limited time left, the Falcons couldn't answer and fell to the Vikings.
The Falcons overcame a 1-0 deficit early in the first half. Pierluca Carnovale played a goal kick to Isaac Ketcham, who launched the ball downfield. Judah Johnston was on the other end of the long pass. Johnston worked down the right side of the field before shooting from 13 yards out. His shot got past the keeper and into the left side of the net. Johnston's third goal of 2024 was a big one, and reset the game 1-1 where it stayed for most of the match.
Carnovale was solid in goal for the Falcons. Jackson Goode, Nick Ramoso, Silvestre Vallejo, and Ketcham supported him with firm defense. Carnovale faced four shots on goal and made two saves on the night.
The Falcons return to Interbay Soccer Stadium on Saturday when they host Northwest Nazarene at 2 p.m.
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