Sept. 22, 2016 Box Score
LACEY , Wash. -Brady Ulenscored a goal early in the second half but the Western Washington men's soccer team was unable to overcome a first-half deficit during a 2-1 loss to Saint Martin's in the GNAC opener for both schools on Thursday afternoon at Saints Field.
The Saints (2-4-0, 1-0-0 GNAC) scored quickly in the opening half with a goal in the 6th minute and added a second in the 22nd minute to build an advantage over visiting WWU (3-2-1, 0-1-0).
"We did not come out the way we needed to and made two uncharacteristic mistakes in the back, and they capitalized" said fourth-year head coach Greg Brisbon. "It's not like we played bad, we had chances as well in the first half but we did not capitalize on those chances."
McKray Kohn put SMU on the board in the opening minutes, scoring off a corner kick with an assist to Kaleb Strawn. Strawn also assisted the Saints' second goal, scored by Will Eldred off a rebounded shot.
Ulen (Cour d'Alene, ID/Post Falls/North Idaho) cut into the deficit with his first goal of the season in the 48th minute, scoring to the middle of the net after a deflection from a service sent into the 18-yard box.
WWU generated opportunities offensively, holding a 19-12 edge in shots (10-7 edge in shots on goal) as well as a 9-2 advantage on corner kick opportunities, but was unable to find an equalizer during the second half.
"The second half was night-and-day," Brisbon said. "We played great, worked hard and had good attitudes and I don't know how we didn't score. The (SMU) goalkeeper made some good saves but at the end of the day we wasted about 20 minutes and it costed us the game."
Junior goalkeeper Tyler Visten (Mount Vernon, WA/Skagit Valley College) made 5 saves for the Vikings while SMU goalkeeper Griffin Small recorded 9 saves.
The Vikings return home for their conference home opener later this week, hosting Seattle Pacific on Saturday at Harrington Field (7 pm).
