LACEY, WA — The Saint Martin's Men's Soccer team (0-10-0, 0-4-0 GNAC) took on the fifth-place squad in the conference, the Western Washington Vikings, in a home contest this past Saturday.

The Vikings would waste no time getting on the board by sinking a goal in the fifth minute on a penalty kick. WWU would follow up 20 minutes later with a second goal to extend their lead to 2-0. The Saints would battle back defensively, not allowing any more goals to score before halftime. Senior captain Zack Martin would keep SMU anchored by playing a full 90 minutes and goalkeeper Connor Lestiko would save six shots on the day.

Western would keep up the pace after halftime as they would score two more goals in the first 12 minutes of the second half to take a 4-0 lead, but the Saints would refuse to fold. Forward Angel Alvarado-Fajardo would jumpstart the Saints' offensive efforts with a penalty kick goal in the 61st minute. The first goal for SMU would quickly be followed up by a second, as Cole Sullivan would slice through the Vikings' defense to score in the 68th minute to put the Saints back in it at a score of 4-2.

However, the game would take a tough turn for the Saints as a red card issued to Paul Lopez left Saint Martin's a man down for the remainder of the match. The Vikings would quickly capitalize on their numbers advantage and add three more goals to the board, ending the game by a score of 7-2 in favor of Western Washington.

Saint Martin's Men's Soccer will host Western Oregon on Thursday, October 17th at 3:30 PM at Saints Field. Get tickets here.