BURNABY, B.C. – Simon Fraser lost 2-0 to the Central Washington Wildcats in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference matchup Thursday night in Ellensburg.
The loss dropped SFU to 4-9-1 overall and 5-6-0 in league play (the team won a game by forfeit earlier this year that is counted only in the conference standings). SFU still holds the final GNAC Championship tournament spot, by a point over fifth-place Western Oregon.
CWU (4-11-0, 3-8-0 GNAC) scored once in each half, in the 24th and 84th minutes, to earn the victory. The hosts outshot SFU 12-10, including a 6-3 edge in shots on goal.
Sophomore forward
Giuliana Zaurrini got SFU's first good chance in the seventh minute. She intercepted a Wildcats' goal kick and stepped into a dangerous shot from just outside the 18-yard box. Unfortunately for the visitors, the ball bounced just wide of the right goal post.
SFU was forced to make a goalkeeper change in the 16th minute on an injury. Junior
Nicole Anderson came off her line and dove at an NNU player, snuffing out the attack. She was lifted from the game, however, for sophomore
Kelsey Fisher. Anderson later returned to the game, but was forced to leave in the 54th minute for a second time due to a minor injury.
Kiara Buono. Photo by Paul Yates
In the 41st minute, sophomore
Kiara Buono intercepted a headed pass intended for CWU goalkeeper Liz Canton and shot the ball just wide after Canton charged out to cut off the path to the net.
Fisher was called on to keep her team in the game in the 61st minute, when Central Washington was awarded a penalty kick. Down 1-0, Fisher used her right leg to stop a low Makinzie Packwood shot to keep SFU within a goal.
In the 71st minute, the visitors forced a turnover in the CWU half of the field. Buono got to the end of a loose ball and tried to direct it towards the net, but was stopped on the shot from just outside the six-yard box. Less than a minute later, Zaurrini shot the ball wide left on a free kick.
In the last moments of the game, a diving attempt by SFU to knock in a cross, went wide.
The team will head to Nampa, Idaho, for a Saturday contest at Northwest Nazarene, which is in third place in the GNAC table. Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 1 p.m. MT / 12 noon PT.
- with files from Central Washington Athletics
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