Coming Up – Northwest Nazarene (September 28, 3:00 p.m., Nampa, Idaho) and Montana State Billings (September 30, 2:00 p.m., Billings, Montana).
COMPLETE MEDIA GUIDE
Live Stats/Live Video – Live Stats and Live Video of both games will be available through Saint Martin's Stretch Internet Portal. Both matches will be broadcasted by host teams.
Social Media – Follow the Saints on Facebook (Saint Martin's University Men's Soccer) and follow SMU Athletics on Facebook (Saint Martin's Saints), Twitter (SMUAthletics), Instagram (saints_athletics) and YouTube (SMU Athletics).
Ticket Information - SMU students get in free at every SMU Home game with a valid student ID card and tickets are available for only five dollars. Seniors/Military/Non-SMU Students get in for three dollars. Children under the age of 11 get in free.
Saints Return From Two Hard Fought Northern Matches – Despite two second half goals in the final ten minutes, and playing two men down, the Saints fell 3-2 to Western Washington to open the 2017 GNAC season. The Vikings scored the lone goal in the first half in the 37th minute when a long pass left to right found a Viking seven yards out on the right side of the box. Western Washington extended their to 3-0 in the second half on goals in the 60th and 78th minutes from Drew Farnsworth and Georg Cholewa respectively. However, the match was far from over despite the Saints trailing 3-0 with 10 minutes left in the match.
McKray Kohn wrestled a ball loose and scored from seven yards out to the far post for this first goal of the season and cut the Vikings' lead to 3-1 in the 80th minute. Just two minutes later,
Brandon Madsen, increased his match-scoring streak to four straight games when his shot found net on the lower left side of the goal on the penalty kick. The Saints attempted to equalize in the final five minutes wtih a shot from John and a corner in the final seconds; however, Western Washington held on 3-2 for the victory. "The first 22 minutes of the match we had really good shape and our movement on and off the ball was very good," said head coach
Rob Walker. "We had a couple finishing chances and we were tight marking in the back. With Sebastian's (Navarro) red card, the game changed, giving them a chacne to push a little bit. With the second red card in the second half, the men really tripled their effort to go from being down 3-0 to 3-2 and pushing so well at the end. That effort makes me extremely proud." "Very proud of the team for battling back after two red cards," said Kohn. "Although a score of 3-2 doesn't give us a win, it shows the relentlessness of the team to try to win. We have the personnel to be a top team in the conference and I believe one win will spark our fire."
Griffin Small got the start at keeper, going 83:34 minutes, making five saves before Parker Elliot finished off the final 6:26 minutes. Kohn led the Saints with two shots, while Madsen,
Kyle Witzel and Caymon John each recorded one shot.
Kyle Witzel scored his first goal of the season as the Saints traveled to No. 2 Simon Fraser in a 5-1 loss on Saturday. Playing under the lights, Simon Fraser (5-0-1, 2-0-1 GNAC) gained the early lead on a penalty kick goal just 3:28 minutes into the match. The Saints (0-7-0, 0-2-0) defense held strong against 14 shots by SFU in the first half to keep the score at 1-0 going into halftime. The Clan extended their lead in the second half on goals in the 56th and 63rd minute to take a commanding 3-0 lead. The Saints responded in the 82nd minute after last-season's leading goal scorer found his first goal of the 2017 season on a ball that came in from the right side, which Witzel put into the back of the net. Simon Fraser went on to add two more goals in the final ten minutes to secure the 5-1 victory over Saint Martin's. "We had a game plan tonight that we thought would help us but unfortunately, things got a little tough right at the beginning," said head coach
Rob Walker. "The really great thing about the game is that we had some good performances from
Joey Mack and
Christian Caro, who came on and really showed their value with their experience and skill. Also, the freshman tandem of Stephen Murray Todd JR and
Nick Phillips had very solid games for us. A bright spot for us was the effort of the front line of
Kyle Witzel and
Brandon Madsen. Kyle's (Witzel) goal was well deserved and Brandon's (Madsen) effort really should've been rewarded with a goal too."
Kyle Witzel and
Steven Chu recorded the two shots of the match for SMU.
Griffin Small got the start at keeper, going 77:45 minutes, making eight saves before Parker Elliot finished out the final 12:15 minutes with one save.
Northwest Nazarene Preview – The Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene enter the match 3-3-0 overall with a 0-1-0 record in conference play after falling to Montana State Billings 3-2 last week. NNU is currently on a two-game losing streak. In the nine goals scored by Northwest Nazarene this season, two have come from Michael Bryant and seven from seven different Crusaders. Edwin Quiroz leads the team with four assists and is tied with Bryant in shots with 13. The Crusaders have used three different goalies this season, with Jacob Hillyer taking the most time. Hillyer, in five matches, has recorded 15 saves and allowed two goals on 45 shots faced for a .882 save percentage. Cade Leatherman and Alejandro Basulto-Merito have combined for six saves and nine goals allowed in three matches. In their six games this year, the Crusaders have been outscored 11-9 and outshot 83-63 by their opponents. NNU is tied with their opponents in first half scoring (5-5) but are behind in goal differential in the second half (6-4).
Montana State Billings Preview – After starting the season with four straight losses, the Yellowjackets have responded with four straight wins, including two wins in conference. MSUB will host Seattle Pacific on Thursday before facing the Saints on Saturday. Leading the attack for the Yellowjackets is Guillaume Kremer and JD Hauenstein who have each scored three goals. Kremer also leads the team in assists with three and points at nine. Realf Zhivanai has scored two goals with the final seven goals coming from seven different MSUB players. The Yellowjackets have split the duties of goalkeeper between Tom Lohmann and Javier Hernandez. Lohmann has logged 436 minutes at the position, making 26 saves with nine goals allowed on 61 shots faced. Hernandez has made 16 saves with 11 goals allowed on 65 shots faced. Lohmann holds a 4-0-0 record while Hernandez is 0-4-0 on the year. As a team, MSUB has been outscored 20-15; however, in their last four matches, have outscored their opponents 12-6.
GNAC Review – Leading the way in a tough GNAC this season is Montana State Billings and Western Washington with a perfect 2-0-0 record in conference action. The number two team in the nation, Simon Fraser, sits third in the leaderboard with a 1-0-1 record, while Seattle Pacific takes fourth with one point and a 0-1-1 record. Looking for their first points of the season, Northwest Nazarene, Concordia and Saint Martin's are tied up at the fifth spot in the standings.
