BURNABY – Midfielder Jaz Dev scored on a free kick 10 yards inside the centre line for her first collegiate goal, lifting Simon Fraser University women's soccer to a 2-0 win over Western Oregon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Thursday evening at SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field.

Dev took four strides to the ball and then struck a high floater that sailed 40 yards over the head of Western Oregon goalkeeper Olivia Holdenried who managed to jump and get a hand on the ball but couldn't stop it from going in. Holdenried was eight yards off her line when Dev took her shot. The on-target floater caught the 'keeper by surprise. Holdenried quickly back-pedaled but couldn't recover all the way.

WATCH GOAL: https://youtu.be/naSUgsWYxuY?t=1460

"We always tell the girls to put the ball on net, put it in dangerous areas and Jazz has been striking four or five dangerous free kicks per game the last few games," said SFU head coach Annie Hamel. "Tonight, she must have thought I'll do it myself and put the ball on target."

Dev now has one goal and three assists in her last four games. She is tied for the team lead in scoring.
 

Dev's goal in the 17^th minute spurred the Red Leafs on. They found the back of the net again 15 minutes later when Giuliana Zaurrini scored her second of the season for a comfortable lead. Chelsea Crocq did most of the work on Zaurrini's goal. Crocq closed quickly on the Wolves defender after she received a short goal kick. The defender surrendered possession under pressure and Crocq stripped her of the ball, knocked it into into space and then sent a pass to an unguarded Zaurrini for the tap-in.

With the win SFU leaped over Western Oregon into fourth place in the conference. SFU has now won two straight games at home and is 2-2-2 in their last six matches. SFU has a 3-4-4 overall record, 2-3-2 in the conference. The Wolves are 4-3-4 overall and 1-3-3 in the GNAC.

Sarah Loewen, who recorded a five-save shutout last outing, made six stops on Thursday for the clean sheet. She now has a 0.842 save percentage to go along with three shutouts in eight games.

"We had a really strong first half and the second was a bit of a grind but it was nice to see the girls rise up to the physicality of this game," said Hamel. "They put in a really good performance that really started with the backline and pushed through to our forwards."

"We got the win that we needed and we took points away from Western Oregon so it was a good night but now we have to shift our focus to Western Washington," added Hamel.

SFU is back in action Saturday at SFU Stadium against No. 14 ranked Western Washington beginning at 2 p.m. Western Washington is riding an eight-game unbeaten streak. The Vikings defeated SFU 3-0 in the GNAC opener for both schools Sept. 15 at Harrington Field. Western is 33-17-3 all-time vs. the Red Leafs, with a 25-game unbeaten streak (23-0-2) dating back to 2008.

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