Evans, GA – The Simon Fraser University men's soccer team lost 3-1 to the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Thursday afternoon, ending the Clan's historic run through the NCAA post season.
“It's very disappointing, that goes without saying,” said head coach Alan Koch. “To lose in the semi final of a Final Four is incredibly frustrating. I take my hat off to Saginaw Valley, their work rate was incredible.”
The Cardinals opened the scoring in the 15th minute of the opening half, when Zach Walega took a pass back to the top of the box and scored past Clan goalkeeper JD Blakley (Saskatoon, SK) into the upper right corner of the net.
That was all the scoring in the first half as the Clan went to the locker room trailing 1-0.
“I think over the course of the 90 minutes they outworked us but I give my guys credit. They created ample opportunities in the second half to win the match and it's frustrating to see a quality season end the way it did today,” continued Koch.
In the first ten minutes of the second half, the Cardinals added two more.
First, Savage Lachlan scored at 51:40 to make it 2-0 and less than four minutes later, Zach Myers scored for the Cardinals to make it 3-0.
The Clan had plenty of chances to score through the remainder of the half and Carlo Basso (Coquitlam, BC) put SFU on the board in the 59th minute, unassisted.
Basso stole the ball in the back and kicked it into the bottom right corner of the goal.
The Clan could not bury any other chances though and SFU's season came to an end, losing their Final Four match against the Cardinals by two.
“I think it came down to work rate,” said Basso. “We came out in the second half with a good work rate but unfortunately they countered us and we take our hats off to Saginaw for doing what they needed to do. Ultimately though, I think we beat ourselves.”
The Clan outshot the Cardinals 15-7 in the match, though Saginaw Valley had seven on goal to the Clan's four.
Despite the loss, the season will still go down as a historic one for SFU and the NCAA, as the Clan men's soccer team became the first school from outside the United States to reach the Final Four.
“As a whole it was a great season,” said Blakley. “We battled through some hard times. Coming into the NCAA tournament for the first time was exciting and we took it in stride. To end it here is certainly frustrating though.”
The SFU men's soccer team will depart Georgia early Friday morning, and are expected to arrive back on Burnaby Mountain on Friday evening. More details will be posted at athletics.sfu.ca as they become available.
