SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University’s men’s soccer team might have lost more than a match Sunday when Santa Clara University claimed a 2-1 West Coast Conference victory in front of 1,148 fans.

            Defender Josh Phillips and forward Jakob Granlund both left the field at 22:12 and never returned. Phillips departed with a bothersome hamstring injury, and with only two weeks remaining in the regular season the early prognosis was not good. Granlund left with an upper right leg injury. Both players will be re-evaluated next week.

            “I don’t think Jakob is lost beyond this game, but I don’t know about Josh,” Gonzaga head coach Einar Thorarinsson said.  “Josh is obviously in a lot of pain.”

            Phillips, a senior from Olympia, Wash., pulled himself out of the match after suffering the injury on a clearing kick.

            The loss of Phillips was a big void for the Bulldogs to fill, especially on fellow senior defender Greg Carter.

            “Greg needed to step into more of a leadership role, and the new guys coming in have to step into big shoes,” Thorarinsson said. “Offensively, we lost a threat on the right side without Jakob.”

            The crisp, fall day started well for the Bulldogs (8-4-3; 3-2-3). Conner Bevans scored his fourth goal of the season just 58 seconds into the match. Parker Victor dribbled wide down the right flank and sent a perfect cross to Bevans at the near post and he forced the ball past Broncos keeper Kendall McIntosh from close range.

            The Bulldogs almost made it 2-0 in the 20^th minute when Greg Carter’s header to the near post off Lars Ludwigs’ corner kick was tipped out of bounds off the fingertips of McIntosh.

            Less than a minute later the Broncos (8-8-0; 5-3-0) got the equalizer. Harrison Hanley, who scored both goals in a 2-1 SCU home win in the first meeting between the teams this season, tallied again. He took a drop pass by Michael Gates on the right wing and found the far upper V at 20:56 to beat an out-stretched Ryan Caballero in goal for the Bulldogs.

            The decisive goal came early in the second half. Harrison and Max Ornstil each headed a throw-in from the near side to Carlos Montes who was 15 yards out in the right side of the 18. Montes rifled a one-timer at 49:23, the ball never touching the ground from the throw-in to the goal.

            “It was a perfect play on their part, something they work on. But we left a man open on the back door,” Thorarinsson said of the defensive breakdown.

            The Bulldogs, who held a 16-4 shots edge and a 7-4 shots-on-goal advantage, only got two shots on goal in the second half in losing a 10^th straight match to the Broncos.

            “The first half was good; we got some good looks and had opportunities. The second half we could not get behind them. Our offense kind of shut down in the second half,” Thorarinsson said.

            Once the Broncos got the 2-1 lead they were content to pack it in defensively. The Bulldogs countered with an extra attacker and a three-man back line for the final 20 minutes.

            “We just couldn’t penetrate. They kept two guys up and packed everybody else in,” Thorarinsson said.

            The loss dropped Gonzaga to third place in the WCC with 12 points. Loyola Marymount University sits atop the standings with 19 points, SCU is second with 15 and the Bulldogs third. Saint Mary’s College is fourth with 11 points and the University of San Francisco, which missed an opportunity to move into third place Sunday in a 1-0 road loss to LMU, lurks in fifth place with 10 points.

            The Bulldogs are at the University of San Diego Friday and Loyola Marymount University Sunday in upcoming action. Gonzaga ends the regular season at home with matches Nov. 15 against USF and Nov. 17 against SMC.

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