BURNABY, B.C. – The Simon Fraser Red Leafs (8-5-0, 5-3-0 GNAC) rode a pair of first-half goals to an impressive 2-1 road win over the Seattle Pacific Falcons (4-5-6, 3-2-3) on Saturday night, as Alan Soto and Mark Talisuna paced the SFU offence with a goal apiece in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.
 
The game got off to a spectacular start for the Red Leafs. While breaking into attacking territory, Camacho noted SPU 'keeper Lars Helleren was cheating off of his goal line. Not one to leave opportunity go to waste, Soto dropped a pin-point accurate 42-yard lob in behind Helleren to open the scoring.
 
SFU doubled its lead with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. Bracing to trap a long ball deep in Falcons territory, Justus Meier collected it and put a beautiful ball onto a hard-charging Conrad Cheng. The SFU midfielder raced into the box from the left flank, where he forced Falcons defender Evan Aune to upend him to stop a high-quality chance in tight.
 
Talisuna stepped to the penalty spot and made no mistake, putting SFU up by the 2-0 score they would carry into halftime.
 

 
With just over 20 minutes left in the match, SPU finally broke through. With a deft little piece of footwork from the right flank, midfielder Connor Tollan wheeled around in the SFU penalty area before delivering a solid cross at goal. Red Leafs goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu managed to get a hand on it, but Falcons defender Ed Weise got to the clearance and connected on the header from in tight.
 
With SFU tightening up defensively, the Falcons' best shot to equalize came with just over three minutes to play. After playing a little give-and-go to create space off the corner, SPU forward Aidan Massey dropped a cross into a loaded Red Leafs box. Demian Alvarez rose up and managed to make contact, but the Falcons sophomore couldn't quite direct it on goal, as the ball sailed just wide of the left post.
 
Sandhu made six saves for the victory.
 
With the triumph, the Red Leafs – with 15 points on the season – moved ahead of SPU into sole possession of third place in the GNAC league standings.
 
SFU will be back on the road next week, as they head for Monmouth, Oregon, to take on the Western Oregon Wolves. It's a matinee kickoff, as the two sides are set to clash at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 27.

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