BURNABY, B.C. – The SFU Red Leafs came up short in their final road game of the regular season on Thursday, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets (5-7-3, 2-5-2 Great Northwest Athletic Conference).

Despite outshooting MSUB 13-6 overall, just two of the SFU (10-4-2, 7-2-1 GNAC) shots made it to Yellowjackets goalkeeper Jeremi Campagnolo.

On the other hand, the home side converted on its sparse opportunities, the first around 31 minutes in. After Josh Nalletamby put the ball into the SFU box from the left flank, it bounced off a defender right to Sam Kemmer, who hammered a one-touch ball into the goal.

MSUB got their second marker on a terrific piece of ball movement. Four attackers touched the ball as they raced up field. Moving towards the SFU box, the final pass from Kamden Beck found Callum Bryant in alone, and the senior midfielder put it to the bottom left corner.

SFU got back into the contest in the 77th minute, after Yellowjackets defender Kolja Thomas' hand ball in the MSUB box resulted in a red card and landed senior forward Devin O'Hea (North Vancouver, B.C.) at the penalty spot. O'Hea made no mistake, slotting home his eighth goal of the season.

However, Campagnolo and the rest of the Yellowjackets held off SFU in the game's final minutes despite being a player down.

O'Hea and rookie Ryan Torresan (North Vancouver, B.C.) led the Red Leafs with three shots each.
 

SFU's regular season finale Saturday, wherein they will host the Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks, has enormous stakes.

The Red Leafs can still assure itself of both a GNAC regular season title and a berth in the NCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship tournament with a win Saturday. However, should SFU fall to the Nighthawks, the Western Oregon Wolves will have a chance to take both out from under the Red Leafs if they win their own finale against the Seattle Pacific Falcons.  

However, should both the Red Leafs and Wolves lose their respective matches Saturday, the two teams would tie for the GNAC title, and SFU would earn the league's automatic qualifier berth to the NCAA tournament as it recorded four out of a possible six points against WOU.

The Red Leafs and Nighthawks (5-6-6, 3-3-5) will kick off Saturday's season finale this Saturday, November 11 at 1 p.m. inside the SFU Stadium at Terry Fox Field.

It will be the final regular season home game for O'Hea, defender Callum Beattie (Hong Kong SAR, China), defender Matt Hobson (Surrey, B.C.), defender Niko Papakyriakopoulos (New Westminster, B.C.), goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu (Richmond, B.C.) and midfielder Ali Zohar (Surrey, B.C.).

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/senior-night-sfu-mens-soccer-vs-northwest-nazarene-university-tickets-677068719767?aff=ebdsoporgprofile

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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