Waipio, HI – The SFU men’s soccer team started their trip to Hawaii with a 4-1 victory yesterday over BYU-Hawaii in Waipio.  The Clan scored two goals in the first half and two in the second half en route to victory.  With the win, SFU now sits at 10-0-0 on the year (5-0-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action) while BYU-Hawaii falls to 5-2-1 on the season.

Juan Sanchez (Armenia, Columbia) got the Clan on the board early with a goal in the fifth minute of play.  Sanchez put his shot on net off a free kick from the left side which found the back of the net to open the scoring.  The unassisted goal was Sanchez’s first of the season.

SFU expanded their lead in the 24^th minute when Chris Bargholz (Fuessen, Germany) netted his fourth goal of the year.  After taking a pass from the middle, Bargholz found himself alone against the goalkeeper on the left side.  Bargholz beat the keeper one on one to give SFU a 2-0 lead.  Farhad Abdulgani (Oslo, Norway) had his first of three points on the afternoon with an assist on the Bargholz goal.

The first half came to a close with SFU holding a 2-0 lead, and outshooting BYU-Hawaii 10-4.

It did not take long for SFU to add to their lead in the second half.  At the start of the 48^th minute, Roman Doutkevich (Kiev, Ukriane) took a pass from Abdulgani, receiving the ball on the left side.  Doutkevich made no mistake, beating the keeper to record his first goal of the season, giving SFU a 3-0 lead.

BYU-Hawaii answered back almost immediately as they finally solved SFU goalkeeper Sheldon Steenhuis (Morgan Hill, CA) with the 49^th minute coming to a close.  Eric Lowe took a pass from Kamuela Kamoe off a free kick.  Lowe put his shot in from the left side to get BYU on the board, and record his first goal of the season.

SFU’s three goal lead would be restored in the 61^st minute.  Abdulgani got the goal, his first of the game and his third point of the afternoon.  He was left with a one-on-one opportunity against the BYU-Hawaii goalkeeper after taking a pass from Max Baessato (North Vancover, BC).  The sophomore made no mistake, depositing the ball in the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

The Clan would protect their lead the rest of the game, securing the 4-1 victory.

“Abdulgani was very good today, playing in tough conditions with the heat.  Juan Sanchez covered a lot of ground for us in the midfield and his free kick early in the game was something special,” said Head Coach Alan Koch.

Steenhuis played most of the game for SFU, making two saves in just over 81 minutes of action.  JD Blakely (Saskatoon, SK) completed the game for the Clan, but was not forced to make a save. 

Josiah Holtz made six saves on ten shots on goal in just over 61 minutes of action for BYU-Hawaii.  Tyler Smedley relieved Holtz in the 62^nd minute and made two saves in relief.

“It was nice to get almost everyone into today’s match.  Michael Winter will be back off of his suspension on Saturday so that should help us against Hawaii Pacific.  Helge Neumann has been having some back spasms so hopefully those will have subsided and we get a full squad available for a tough game against HPU.”

SFU will now have a couple of days off before facing Hawaii Pacific on Saturday night.  The team concludes their trip to Hawaii on Monday against the University of Hawaii-Hilo.

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