BURNABY, BC – Simon Fraser University saw its unbeaten streak come crashing to an end after the Western Washington Vikings handed the Clan a 5-0 loss in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's soccer game Saturday night on Terry Fox Field.
An early goal by Western Washington's Elise Aylward in the 3
rd minute put Simon Fraser down 1-0. Western Washington then scored three goals in the first 12 minutes. The Clan was unable to recover, and saw itself finish the game on the wrong end of a 5-0 score.
Simon Fraser is now off to a 3-1-2 start overall (1-1-1, GNAC) which places them in 3
rd place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
Simon Fraser will face Montana State University Billings on October 1
st on Fox Field beginning at 5:00 PM. Montana State University Billings is second in the conference and is 4-1-2 overall and 2-0-1 in the conference. Their last game saw them play to a 0-0 draw against Concordia at home
. The No. 5 nationally ranked Western Washington Vikings improved their record to 7-1-0 overall, and 3-0-0 in conference after beating the Clan Saturday.
"For a span of 18 minutes we played the worst soccer I've seen from this group," said SFU coach
Annie Hamel. "We have a young group and this was the first time we have been down and they didn't respond well."
"We had a chance 20 seconds into the game and missed and then they came right down the field and scored," added Hamel.
SFU started the game on a high note, as the team worked the ball down the left side of the field with a solid passing play. A shot by
Sierra Leung sailed left, leading to a goal kick for the Vikings. The Western Washington side attacked immediately, moving the ball downfield to set up Aylward for a shot that she buried low left.
The goal stood as the game-winner as the Vikings were able to keep the Clan off the score sheet for the remainder of the game.
Aylward added two more goals, and team captain Catherine Miles potted two of her own, to lift the Vikings to a 5-0 advantage. Miles' first goal came as a result of a penalty kick she was awarded in the 5
th minute. She capitalized with a hard, low shot to left corner, putting the visiting side up by two.
Western Washington was granted a second penalty kick later in the match. On this occurrence Clan goalie,
Priya Sandhu, was up to the task and managed to make the save diving to her left.
Simon Fraser fired 21 shots towards the pair of Western Washington goalies, Ashley Haden and Miranda Head, forcing the duo to make 8 saves. Sandhu faced 20 shots and made 8 saves, ending her shutout streak at four games. Sandhu now owns a record of 3-1-2 this season.
"We need to regain our confidence and find our finishing ability," said Hamel. "We didn't allow them to score during the run of play so that's a positive I'll take away from this game."
SFU took 6 corner kicks while the Vikings had 9.
--@SFUClan--
