From Overtime to Continuing a Winning Streak
Men’s soccer wins close one, women’s soccer continues shutout streak
April 13, 2021
It was a big weekend for Seattle Pacific University Soccer, as both the men’s and women’s teams came up with wins. The women’s soccer team has not allowed any goals in the three games they have played this season.
On the women’s side, the Falcons faced off against Pacific Lutheran University and scored their first goal 39 minutes into the first half and never looked back. Sophomore midfielder Chloe Gellhaus made the first two goals of the game.
In the second half of the game, sophomore midfielder Toni Miranda, freshman forward Sophie Beadle and freshman forward Jacqueline Blakeley all scored goals.
On the other side of competition, PLU struggled to put the ball in the goal, only attempting three shots in comparison to the 25 shots attempted by SPU. The SPU women’s soccer team defeated PLU 5-0, which has put them on a three game winning streak, also snapping the five game winning streak PLU had.
The women’s team has not allowed any of their opponents to score this season, outscoring them by a total of 13-0.
“Our women have been working hard preparing for these opportunities. They have had an amazing mindset through some challenging times, but they kept preparing knowing that their opportunities would come, and when they did that we would be ready,” SPU women’s soccer head coach Arby Busey said following a win over Saint Martin’s last week.
“This is a very competitive group, and they practice with great intensity, so transitioning into games has been simple for this team,” Busey said.
About an hour later, the SPU men’s soccer team faced off against the University of Puget Sound at Interbay Stadium in a close game. The Falcons led early in the game with a goal made by Falcon senior defender Alex Mejia with 14 minutes into the first half, taking an early lead.
The second half of the game was a battle for the win between the two teams. In the 67th minute, UPS tied the game 1-1 from a goal made by UPS defender Lincoln Schnell. Both teams fought to gain the lead but SPU answered ten minutes later. SPU sophomore forward Owen Gortner scored a goal to put the Falcons up 2-1.
The Falcons looked to put UPS away in the game, however, the Loggers were not going to go down easily. With less than four minutes left in regulation, UPS defender Ian Cameron scored a goal to tie the game up 2-2 and send it into overtime.
The game ended with a big play from SPU senior midfielder Sam Malloch, who scored the game winning goal off an inbounds from the left side to end the game with 33 seconds into overtime. Malloch reached the ball first and drove past defenders to kick the winning goal giving the Falcons a 3-2 win.
The Women face off against Western Oregon on Friday at 3 pm. The men’s team has a break and faces next Saint Martin’s on April 21 at 3 pm.
