Soccer - M | 8/20/2015 10:27:00 PM

BURNABY, BC – The Simon Fraser University Clan defeated Kwantlen Polytechnic University Eagles 2-1 in an exhibition men's soccer match Thursday evening on Terry Fox Field.
 
Adam and Kyle Jones each scored for the Clan, who began preseason training on Monday with twice daily practices. The Clan played to a 1-1 draw against the University of Fraser Valley on Tuesday.
 
Exhibition games are not recorded on the Clan's record.
 
 "I think I can honestly say that we have position battles all over the field," said Clan head coach Clint Schneider. "There are some extremely talented freshmen, everyone is fit and they have done their job this summer to get ready for the season. I see every position as a battle and they are going to push each other to get better."
 
Simon Fraser is trying to replace striker Jovan Blagojevic who was selected as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference's and West Region's Player of the Year and was named to the 2014 Men's Soccer All-America Second Team. The Coquitlam native registered the best season of his career in 2014, scoring 18 goals in 18 games, including a conference leading seven game-winning goals. His 18 goals was the 11th best single-season goal-scoring total at SFU.
 
Blagojevic was selected 54th overall by the Vancouver Whitecaps during the third round of the 2015 Major League Soccer SuperDraft. He currently plays for Whitecaps FC2.
 
"I think we will score by committee. We have had teams here at SFU in past that have scored 70 goals and not because one guy scored 30 goals but because the responsibility was shared and several players scored 9 or 10 goals," said Schneider.  "That is the type of team we have this year. We don't have a guy like Jovan who will score 18 goals. I would love for that to happen but we are more likely to have a lot of guys with 5, 6 goals or 7 goals."

Three different players have scored the Clan's three goals this season.
 
Schneider replaced Alan Koch, now head coach of Whitecaps FC 2 (WFC2), the new USL PRO team of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Schneider coached with Koch for all five seasons the Clan has competed in NCAA. He is just the fifth head coach in the history of the SFU men's soccer program.
 
Simon Fraser is Canada's only NCAA team while the Eagles play in Pacwest.
 
Simon Fraser will play an exhibition match at UBC on Aug. 28 before playing its first match against an NCAA opponent, a road game against Sonoma State.