BURNABY, B.C. – In front of some special guests, the SFU Red Leafs men's soccer team posted a 3-1 victory over the Western Washington Vikings Saturday in Burnaby, B.C., in the latest edition of the border battle rivalry.
 
A goal by freshman forward Michael Hennessy (Vancouver) allowed Canada's NCAA team to take a lead into halftime, before Koji Poon (Vancouver) and Devin O'Hea (North Vancouver, B.C.) also got on the scoresheet of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference game. Sebastiano Silvetti scored a late consolation goal for WWU, which could not complete the comeback.
 
"I am always excited to win games, especially against our closest rival Western Washington," said Red Leafs' head coach Clint Schneider, whose team improved to 5-2-2 overall and 2-0-1 in GNAC play. "I do believe our performance wasn't up to the standard we had as a group and as a group we talked about it that we have to be better. Very happy we finished the chances we created in transition. Western Washington is a very good team, they're very well coached."
 
Hennessy opened the scoring in the 29th minute. Junior midfielder Mads Poulsson (Oslo, Norway) had the ball in the middle of the field in Western Washington's half. He passed the ball to an attacking Hennessy, who created enough space in between four Vikings to fire a shot from the top of the 18-yard box low into the right side of the net. It was his fourth goal of the year.
 
Quickly out of halftime, WWU had a great chance to level the score in the 47th minute as Albin Jonsson deftly deflected a looping pass off the left goalpost. After that, the Vikings sent a handful of shots towards SFU goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu but the senior from Richmond, B.C., stopped them all.
 
Then in the 64th minute, the Red Leafs doubled their lead. Hennessy sent a cross from the right side of the penalty area towards Poon, who tapped the ball into the open net for his team-leading sixth goal of the 2023 NCAA campaign.
 

 
On SFU's final tally, senior midfielder Ali Zohar (Surrey, B.C.) intercepted a pass in his own half and dribbled the ball towards the WWU penalty area. He then crossed it to a wide-open O'Hea, whose low shot from the top of the box deflected off a defender and went inside the left goalpost. It was O'Hea's third goal of the season.
 
Silvetti broke the hosts' shutout bid with an 83rd-minute goal, knocking in a loose ball in the six-yard box after a Vikings' corner kick.
 
Sandhu made five saves to earn the victory. WWU outshot SFU 16-8 and had a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.
 
The Red Leafs' win capped off a weekend of celebration for the men's soccer program. At halftime of Saturday's contest, members of SFU's 1982 and 1983 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship teams were celebrated four decades after their remarkable achievements. The 1983 squad was inducted into the SFU Athletic Hall of Fame in the spring of 2023, joining the 1982 team, which entered in 2012. SFU won 37 games, lost six and tied four with 27 shutouts during the two national-title seasons.
 
"SFU is a special place," said Schneider. "Being a part of a celebration of the 1982 and 1983 national championship teams is humbling, it's also a reminder how unique, how incredible, and how powerful our legacy is here at SFU.
 
"We talked about it a lot with our players, that they're part of something much bigger than themselves, a part of a group that's won national championships, had undefeated seasons, and includes athletes who've played with the Canadian national team, with the Olympic team and appeared in World Cups."
 

The Red Leafs will play at Seattle Pacific on Thursday at 5 p.m. before returning home to host Western Oregon Sunday at 12 noon.
 
Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/sfu-mens-soccer-vs-western-oregon-university-tickets-677050475197
 
For the latest information on SFU Athletics, visit athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.

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