LACEY, Wash. – On a sun-drenched Sunday afternoon at Saint Martin's University Soccer Field, the host Saint Martin's Saints Men's team drew 0-0 with the Hawaii Pacific Sharks.
 
As with most 0-0 draws in soccer, the match featured great ball movement, solid defending and a ton of individual effort.  And like so many tied contests, there were moments of sheer delight in the "almost, what-ifs and maybe's" as both teams had opportunities to get on the scoreboard in the 90-minute affair.
 
In the first half, HPU totaled four shots to the Saint's three and in the second half, the Sharks had eight shots to SMU's five. Saint's goalkeeper Hunter Askland totaled three saves in the match while HPU's Jeremy Zielinski had four saves in the game. Hawaii Pacific's Reece Montgomery lead the Sharks in shots attempted with four while the Saints were paced with four separate players shooting on target during the game.   The best chance for the Saints fell to junior Arjun Gill whose first half effort was saved by Zielinski, who dove to the right to save what could have been the opening goal of the game.  
 
The second half featured Hawaii Pacific in command of the game on the ball as their attack probed Saint Martin's midfield and backlines.  The Saints needed over 20 minutes to find themselves back in the game as they were able to break pressure and sustain possession in the Shark defending half of the field.  The final 25 minutes of the game was the most open of the contest and the game's tempo increased dramatically.   From the 60^th minute, there were there were five cautions issued by Referee Charles Woolley (3 issued to HPU, 2 to SMU). In the final moments of the game HPU's Diego Saavedra was issued a 2^nd yellow card and was ejected from the match.
 
While the Saints did not score in the game, the shut-out was their first of the year and their first since the 2019 season. Also, the draw was the Saint's first since 2019 and the first since the NCAA Soccer Rules eliminated overtime at the start of this season. In past years, games that ended tied after 90 minutes played "Golden Goal" overtime.  With the amended rules, all games now end after 90 minutes.
 
The Saints will be travelling to Chico, California for their next game against Chico State on September, 1 at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.