BELLINGHAM, Wash. – In what was a revenge match for the Vikings, after Saint Martin's defeated them in Lacey earlier this season, Western Washington scored in the opening and closing minutes to take three points off the Saints.
Scoring in the 7th minutes and punching the last one at the 75th minute mark, the Vikings (7-6-1, 3-4-1) claimed a critical three points from the Saints (6-8-0, 4-4-0). The Saints came close to equalizing the match in the first half, when a shot hit the crossbar; however, the offense struggled to record quality attempts on goal.
The first goal of the match came off the foot of Louis Genty, who beat
Griffin Small to the far post from 17 yards out. The Saints nearly tied the match at 1-1 in the 25th minute when
Cayman John's attempt banged off the crossbar. Near the end of the half, John registered another scoring opportunity, striking from the top of box, only to be saved by the Vikings' keeper.
In the second half, the Saints continued to pressure the Vikings, including three set pieces just minutes into the half. The Saints first shot in the half came in the 70th minute off the foot of
Oscar Aguilar, but once again WWU was there to make the save. The final blow came in the 75th minute when Stephen Jinneman scored his third goal of the year off of a free kick header to the near low post.
"First off, full credit to Western (Washington) for their plan and effort," said head coach
Rob Walker. "We lost our heads and struggled where we shouldn't have. In the grand scheme of the season, we have a ton to play for. There will be more adversity down the road and we have to correct our path and move on."
As a team, John led with five shots, one landing on goal with four other Saints each recording one shot. Small got the start at goalkeeper, going 85 minutes, making five saves before
Dylan Shaw closed out the final five minutes.
The Saints travel does not get easier, traveling north of the border to face the top-ranked Simon Fraser Clan on Saturday. Match is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. with live stats and video available on smusaints.com.
