Oct. 13, 2016 Box Score
BILLINGS, Mont. -Eleazar Galvanscored his second goal of the season in the 71st minute but Western Washington was unable to complete a comeback after Montana State Billings scored two goals in the first half and added a third early in the second half on its way to a 3-1 victory over the Vikings in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on Thursday afternoon at Yellowjacket Field.
The Vikings (4-4-3, 1-3-2 GNAC) allowed three goals in a game for just the second time during the season. MSU Billings (6-3-3, 2-1-3) was led offensively by forward Thiago Novis, who netted two goals.
Galvan (Sr., M, Chelan, WA/Skagit Valley College) put WWU on the scoreboard when he took a through-ball pass over the defense from junior forward Anthony Dean (Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Bellevue College) and scored from near the top of the 18-yard box. The assist was Dean's team-leading third of the season.
The Vikings fired 5 shots after Galvan's goal in the comeback effort, including a furious stretch of 3 shots over a span of 8 seconds in the 86th minute that included a shot off the crossbar by freshman defender Nick Morgan (Sammamish, WA/Skyline).
Midfielder Ian Bream put the Yellowjackets ahead 1-0 in the 11th minute, finishing from 6 yards to the far post off a cross from midfielder Guillaume Kremer passed from the right side of the field.
MSU Billings increased the advantage to 2-0 in the 30th minute when Novis scored from 8 yards following a cross from the right side by midfielder Flavio Colasanti.
Novis scored his second goal in the 54th minute with a well-placed strike from outside the 18-yard box, bringing his season goal total to 5.
"Give credit to (MSU) Billings," said head coach Greg Brisbon. "They are a motivated bunch of guys, they have talented players on their team and came out right away and gave it to us. We didn't start off the way we needed to. Hopefully we are starting to learn you have to take advantage of every opportunity you get, and you can't come out slow against any team in this conference."
WWU, the GNAC leader in total shots, held a 16-12 edge in shots but the 'Jackets put 7 shots on goal compared with 3 for the Vikings. WWU, also the GNAC leader in corner kicks, took 4 on Thursday while holding MSU Billings to 1 corner kick opportunity.
Junior goalkeeper Tyler Visten (Mount Vernon, WA/Skagit Valley College) made 3 saves and the Vikings were credited with 1 team save. MSU Billlings netminder Joe Scott recorded 2 saves.
Thursday's match broke a streak of four straight contests for WWU that reached overtime. Five of the Vikings' 11 matches in 2016 have gone to overtime.
WWU returns to action at Simon Fraser on Saturday, taking on the third-ranked Clan at 7 pm in Burnaby, B.C.
