BURNABY, B.C. – Senior Eric Bunnell recorded a brace and junior Joar Tidblom had a highlight reel free kick goal to lead the Western Washington University men's soccer team to a 3-1 road victory over Simon Fraser Saturday at Terry Fox Field at SFU Stadium.
The Vikings extended their winning streak to four consecutive games improving to 4-2-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, remaining in a tie for 2nd place in the table with 13 points. WWU's recent surge moves its overall record to 6-4-3.
"I am very happy with our performance today, capping a great week of soccer for our program," said WWU head coach Greg Brisbon. "The team stuck with the game plan through the game and as a result created and finished some nice goals. The defense did a great job managing the game in the second half. Anytime you are at SFU it is difficult to get points, so today was a great result for, especially this part of the season."
Tidblom opened the scoring in the 10th minute bending his free kick from 25-yards out into the top right corner for his second goal of the season.
Bunnell made it 2-0 just over four minutes later intercepting a pass and doing the rest of the work himself connecting on a left-footed shot from the just outside the 18-yard box into the lower right corner of the goal.
SFU made it a one-goal game early in the 34th minute when Koji Poon took a shot from just outside of the six-yard box into the lower left corner.
Bunnell completed his first career brace adding an insurance goal in the 71st minute. Senior midfielder Lucas Hakamada started the play deep in WWU territory, finding senior midfielder Kaydin Wall with his initial pass. Wall used a long pass to find space where Bunnell tracked down the ball and chipped the SFU keeper for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
SFU ended up having a 17-15 advantage in shots, but the Vikings edged the Red Leafs 7-6 in shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Charlie Dyer made five saves for the Vikings. Sophomore midfielder Edgar Serrano, senior midfielder Lucas Hakamada, senior midfielder Kaydin Wall and junior defender Joar Tidblom all logged the full 90 for the Vikings.
Simon Fraser dropped to 2-8-2 overall and 1-5-0 in 2024.
The Vikings (6-4-3, 4-2-1 GNAC) have a challenging week ahead traveling to play at Northwest Nazarene on Thursday in Nampa, Idaho (4 pm MT) and return home to Harrington Field hosting Saint Martin's in a 4 pm game on Saturday in Bellingham. The complete 2024 schedule can be viewed online via wwuvikings.com/24_MSOC.
Western Washington 3, Simon Fraser 1
Date: October 26, 2024
Field: Terry Fox Field at SFU Stadium Site: Burnaby, B.C.
Attendance: 182
Goals by period 1 2 Tot
--------------------------------------------
Western Washington............ 2 1 - 3
Simon Fraser.................. 1 0 - 1
SCORING SUMMARY:
1. 9:24 WWU Tidblom
2. 13:33 WWU Bunnell
3. 33:01 SFU Poon (Poulsson, Proctor)
4. 70:56 WWU Bunnell (Wall, Hakamada)
Shots: SFU 17, WWU 15
Shots on Goal: WWU 7, SFU 6
Saves: WWU 5 (Dyer - 5), SFU 4 (Thorsen – 4)
Corners: SFU 6, WWU 4
Fouls: SFU 17, WWU 14
Offsides: SFU 3, WWU 2
Kits: WWU (White), SFU (Red)
Updated Records: WWU (6-4-3, 4-2-1), SFU (2-8-2, 1-5-0)
Here is a look at the overall records for the seven GNAC programs through Saturday's games to close out the fourth week of conference play. Updated conference standings, schedules, results and statistics can be found online at GNACsports.com.
|
|
Team
|
Points
|
GNAC
|
Pct.
|
Overall
|
Pct.
|
Home
|
Away
|
Neutral
|
Streak
|
L10
|
|
1.
|
Western Oregon
|
18
|
6-1-0
|
.857
|
10-2-1
|
.808
|
4-1-0
|
4-1-1
|
2-0-0
|
L1
|
8-1-1
|
|
2.
|
Western Washington
|
13
|
4-2-1
|
.643
|
6-4-3
|
.577
|
4-2-1
|
2-2-1
|
0-0-1
|
W4
|
5-3-2
|
|
|
Montana State Billings
|
13
|
4-2-1
|
.643
|
5-4-4
|
.538
|
2-2-0
|
2-1-4
|
1-1-0
|
W2
|
4-3-3
|
|
4.
|
Northwest Nazarene
|
11
|
3-2-2
|
.571
|
4-6-3
|
.423
|
3-1-1
|
1-4-1
|
0-1-1
|
T1
|
4-4-2
|
|
|
Seattle Pacific
|
11
|
3-2-2
|
.571
|
6-4-3
|
.577
|
2-3-3
|
3-1-0
|
1-0-0
|
T1
|
5-2-3
|
|
6.
|
Simon Fraser
|
3
|
1-5-0
|
.167
|
2-8-2
|
.250
|
1-2-0
|
0-5-1
|
1-1-1
|
L3
|
1-8-1
|
|
7.
|
Saint Martin's
|
0
|
0-7-0
|
.000
|
0-13-0
|
.000
|
0-6-0
|
0-6-0
|
0-1-0
|
L13
|
0-10-0
|
|
This Week's GNAC Schedule
|
|
Thursday, October 24:
at Western Oregon 4, Northwest Nazarene 1
Montana State Billings 4, at Saint Martin's 0
at Western Washington 2, Seattle Pacific 1
Saturday, October 26:
Montana State Billings 2, at Western Oregon 1
Western Washington 3, at Simon Fraser 1
Northwest Nazarene 1, at Seattle Pacific 1
|
Here is a look at Western's record breakdown for the 2024 season:
|
2024 RECORD BREAKDOWN
|
|
Overall Record
|
6-4-3
|
|
Streak
|
W4
|
|
Home
|
4-2-1
|
|
Away
|
2-2-1
|
|
Neutral
|
0-0-1
|
|
GNAC Record
|
4-2-1
|
|
Non-Conference
|
2-2-2
|
|
Ranked Opponents
|
1-2-0
|
|
Scoring First
|
5-0-1
|
|
Opponent Scores First
|
1-4-1
|
|
Lead at the Half
|
4-0-1
|
|
Tied at the Half
|
2-1-2
|
|
Trail at the Half
|
0-3-0
|
|
Record by Kit
|
|
White
|
1-3-1
|
|
Navy Blue
|
4-1-1
|
|
Light Blue
|
1-0-1
|
SERIES HISTORY VS. SIMON FRASER
The Vikings defeated the Red Leafs 3-1 Saturday in the first of two meetings this season. WWU and SFU are set to battle on November 7 at Harrington Field in Bellingham. WWU is 6-4-0 over the last 10 games vs. SFU. The Red Leafs lead the all-time series 42-22-8.
2024 WWU MEN'S SOCCER RESULTS & SCHEDULE
Here is a look at the Vikings 2024 regular-season schedule:
|
DATE
|
OPPONENT
|
LOCATION / VENUE
|
KICKOFF
|
|
Sept. 5 (Thur.)
|
Chico State (#18)
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
W, 1-0
|
|
Sept. 7 (Sat.)
|
Sonoma State
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
T, 1-1
|
|
Sept. 12 (Thur.)
|
Cal State LA (#3)
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
L, 0-1
|
|
Sept. 14 (Sat.)
|
Cal State Dominguez Hills
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
W, 2-1
|
|
Sept. 19 (Thur.)
|
@Westminster
|
Salt Lake City, UT (Dumke Field)
|
L, 0-1
|
|
Sept. 21 (Sat.)
|
vs. Regis
|
Salt Lake City, UT (Dumke Field)
|
T, 0-0
|
|
Oct. 3 (Thur.)
|
@Western Oregon (#25) GNAC
|
Monmouth, OR (WOU Turf Field)
|
L, 0-1
|
|
Oct. 5 (Sat.)
|
@Seattle Pacific GNAC
|
Seattle, WA (Interbay Stadium)
|
T, 2-2
|
|
Oct. 10 (Thur.)
|
Northwest Nazarene GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
L, 1-2
|
|
Oct. 12 (Sat.)
|
@Saint Martin's GNAC
|
Lacey, WA (SMU Soccer Field)
|
W, 7-2
|
|
Oct. 19 (Sat.)
|
Montana St. Billings GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
W, 2-1
|
|
Oct. 24 (Thur.)
|
Seattle Pacific GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
W, 2-1
|
|
Oct. 26 (Sat.)
|
@Simon Fraser GNAC
|
Burnaby, BC (Terry Fox Field)
|
W, 3-1
|
|
Oct. 31 (Thur.)
|
@Northwest Nazarene GNAC
|
Nampa, ID (NNU Soccer Field)
|
4:00 pm MT
|
|
Nov. 2 (Sat.)
|
Saint Martin's GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
4:00 pm
|
|
Nov. 7 (Thur.)
|
Simon Fraser GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
5:00 pm
|
|
Nov. 9 (Sat.)
|
@Montana St. Billings GNAC
|
Billings, MT (Yellowjacket Soccer Field)
|
6:00 pm MT
|
|
Nov. 14 (Thur.)
|
Western Oregon GNAC
|
Bellingham, WA (Harrington Field)
|
7:00 pm
|
The Western Washington University men's soccer program is led by head coach Greg Brisbon, who has spent over 20 seasons affiliated with WWU Soccer. The Vikings won the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship, the third league trophy in program history, and advanced to the NCAA II Championships for the second time. The program completed its 44th varsity season in 2023 and has recorded a season record at or above the .500 mark in 11 of the last 12 seasons. In 2016 the Vikings advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships for the first time in program history, using a late-season surge that saw the Vikings 5-0-1 over the last six matches to advance to the postseason. Overall, the program has produced 63 GNAC Players of the Week selections, 30 First Team All-GNAC players and four GNAC Players of the Year since joining the conference in 2001. Off the field, WWU has built a strong academic reputation with 93 GNAC All-Academic selections over the last eight years.
