Burnaby, B.C – Three goals in the first half led the Simon Fraser University Clan men’s soccer team to victory over the Western Washington University Vikings by a margin of 4-0 in their first Great Northwest Athletic Conference game of the season on Sunday afternoon at Terry Fox Field. SFU improves to 5-0 (1-0 GNAC) on the season.

“I am very happy with the positive start to conference play,” said head coach Alan Koch following the game. “Western Washington are always a difficult opponent and it was nice to see us get a convincing win. We are still a little loose defensively, and not clinical enough upfront. However, we will work hard to get better and look forward to a very challenging trip to Montana and Idaho this coming week.”

After a scramble in front of the net early in the first half and a series of saves by SFU goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis, keeping the game to a 0-0 standstill, it was a Jovan Blagojevic shot through traffic from outside the 18-yard box that found the back of the net first. Lucas Ferritto added a goal of his own off a rebound to make it 2-0 for the Clan. Six minutes later SFU continued at a rampant pace as a feed from Farhad Abdulgani found the foot of John Hodnett who put it home to give the home side a 3-0 lead.

One minute into the second half, Western Washington had a great chance to get on the board but a Kallan Brown shot ringed off the post keeping the score at 3-0. SFU added insurance late in the game when Joseph Martin potted home a feed from Roman Doutkevich who drew two Vikings defenders to him.

SFU outshot Western Washington 19-to-8. Steenhuis made six saves to earn the shutout and win. WWU goalkeeper Leo Cohen allowed three goals, making eight saves to take the loss. 

Next up, SFU take on Montana State Billings in Billings, Montana on September 22. 

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