LACEY, Wash. – The visiting Western Washington University men’s soccer team opened the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule with a 3-1 loss against Saint Martin’s on Thursday at SMU Soccer Field in the conference opener for both schools.
The Saints (3-4-0, 1-0-0 GNAC) scored early in the 8th minute to take a lead and upped their advantage to 2-0 in the 59th minute. WWU (4-3-0, 0-1-0 GNAC) scored in the 79th minute with a goal by sophomore forward Drew Farnsworth (Auckland, New Zealand/Westlake Boys) before the Saints added a third goal in the 84th minute.
“Credit to Saint Martin’s, they did the things needed to win the game and won the game. We did not today,” head coach Greg Brisbon said.
Saint Martin’s forward Brandon Madsen, the GNAC’s leading goal scorer last season, scored his 5th goal of the year to give the Saints a 1-0 lead at the 7:27 mark. He received a cross sent from just inside the 18-yard box on the left side by defender Cayman John for a header goal at the far post from seven yards away.
The Saints took the 1-0 lead to half with each team recording 9 shots in the opening 45 minutes. The Vikings had 2 shots on frame while WWU redshirt freshman goalkeeper Brandon Wolter (Vancouver, WA/Union) made 4 saves in the opening half.
The Vikings out-shot the Saints 18-3 in the second half, with a 5-3 edge in shots on goal, but Saint Martin’s made the most of its attempts with a pair of second-half goals.
The Saints took a 2-0 lead in the 59th minute as a long free kick was sent into the box by defender Sebastian Navarro and forward Alexis Lopez was able to get a shot off in a crowd of players from seven yards away for the goal. Madsen was also credited with an assist on the play.
Farnsworth netted his 2nd goal of the season at the 78:26 mark, scoring unassisted with a left-footed strike to the near post from inside the top of the box.
The Saints extended the lead back to a two-goal margin in the 84th minute with Navarro assisting John, who scored with a long shot from outside the box.
WWU appeared to have potentially drawn within 3-2 during the last five minutes of the game but a call prior to the shot negated the goal.
For the game, WWU held a 27-12 advantage in shots while Saint Martin’s had the slight edge in shots on goal (8-7). The Vikings also had a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks during the contest.
Farnsworth had 7 shots with 2 on frame while sophomore midfielder Georg Cholewa (Leipzig, Germany/Sportgymnasium Chemnitz) put 3 shots on goal and junior forward Taylor Allen (Russellville, AR) also had a pair of shots on frame.
Wolter finished with 5 saves while Saint Martin’s goalkeeper Griffin Small totaled 6 saves.
The Vikings are back in action Saturday night, hosting MSU Billings at 7 pm for the first GNAC home game of the season. The game is the second part of WWU soccer doubleheader at Harrington Field with the 15th-ranked WWU women’s soccer team hosting Simon Fraser at 4 pm.
GAME NOTES: WWU dropped to 15-7-1 all-time vs. the Saints…teams split the season series each of last two seasons…Saints have won last four meetings in Lacey…Vikings lost by a multi-goal deficit for just the third time since the start of the 2017 season…Drew Farnsworth scored his 2nd goal of the season to join Georg Cholewa (3 goals) and Stephen Jinneman (2 goals) as Vikings with multiple goals through seven games on the season…senior defender Louis Genty made his first career start…Brandon Wolter made a career-high 5 saves…the 27 shots by WWU were the second-most in a game this season by the Vikings (game-high was 29 shots vs. Hawai’i Hilo).
