BURNABY, BC – The Simon Fraser University Clan's quest for a third straight trip to the NCAA Division II national men's soccer championship Final Four ended Thursday after a 1-0 loss to Northwest Nazarene University Crusaders in the opening round of the tournament played on the campus of Seattle Pacific University.

Northwest Nazarene red-shirt freshman midfielder Marshall Hartley scored in the 23^rd minute and then the fourth seeded Crusaders locked down the high-scoring Clan the rest of the game.

No. 5 seed Simon Fraser (11-5-2) had its season end much earlier than usual after advancing to the national semifinals in each of the last two years.

"History would tell us that one goal is not usually enough to beat those guys (SFU) but we've realized just how exceptional we are defensively," said NNU head coach Coe Michaelson. "The later in the game it got, the more we thought we've got a shot at it. In the end, we got the goal, we relied on some really good players at the back, and we got it done."

Simon Fraser entered the tournament riding a six game win streak and had scored 11 goals in its past four games.

"The game characterized our entire season," said Clan head coach Alan Koch. "We didn't show up for the first 30 minutes and conceded a goal, and then it wasn't until we woke up and started to impose our will on them that we took control."

Simon Fraser was 2-2-2 back on September 27, after a 3-2 overtime loss to Northwest Nazarene, and then won 9 of its next 11 games to qualify for the tournament.

The Clan dominated the second half, outshooting NNU 9-1 after intermission. Their best opportunity came in the 70th minute when a loose ball found Mateo Espinosa open in the box. His 12-yard shot was deflected by the foot of goalkeeper Alfredo Ontiveros, who sprawled low to block the attempt.

SFU's final shot of the game was a dangerous one. Off a cross from the left side, Joel Malouf volleyed a 14-yard shot from the center of the box that carried just high of the target with 5:17 left to play.

"We controlled the tempo of the game over the final 60 minutes, we showed the desire to get the job done and we created opportunities but their keeper made some outstanding saves and we ran out of time," said Koch.

"We told our guys at halftime that SFU is the only team that has played in the last two Final Fours, and they are going to go down kicking and screaming and fighting," said Michaelson. "And they did. They put a lot of pressure on us for a period of time but we held strong."

The fourth-ranked Crusaders advance to a regional semifinal meeting with No. 1 seed Seattle Pacific on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Brandon Watson was credited with four saves for Simon Fraser, which outshot the Crusaders 15-8 for the game.

The loss brings to an end the career of several Clan seniors, most notably GNAC Player of the Year Jovan Blagojevic. The senior striker from Coquitlam, BC, led the conference with 18 goals. It was the 10^th best single-season goal-scoring season on record at SFU.

"It was a remarkable season for Jovan and one of the best performances this team has seen in many, many years," said Koch. "I thought all of our seniors were strong all season and had good performances today despite the loss.

"I said to our guys after the game that I'm proud of the way they came together during the season and played for each other to get us in the tournament, but we learned that in the NCAA tournament you have to put in a full 90 minutes to be successful."

"We graduate five. We'll have a lot of the guys back. Hopefully, they'll learn from this experience. It's great to make the national tournament, but it obviously hurts to lose in the first round, considering how far we've been the last two years," Koch added.


SFU Most Goals In A Season
28, Ken Whitehead, 1976
25, Jean-Georges Balla, 1982
24, Andrew Corazza, 2004
24, Andrew Corazza, 2002
21, Buzz Parsons, 1975
21, Andrew Corazza, 2005
19, Doug Cooper, 1986
19, Scott Munson, 1990
19, Rob Cirjak, 1991
18, Jovan Blagojevic , 2014