MEN’S SOCCER: 

On Thursday, Nov. 11, the men’s soccer team played an extremely tight game against the Saint Martin’s Saints. A majority of the game went scoreless until only 20 minutes of play were left. 

Junior midfielder Tyler Speer scored the first and only goal of the game from eight yards away to the lower right side of Saint Martin’s goal.  His goal led the Falcons to a 1-0 win over the Saints, winning them the GNAC Championships and a spot in the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament. This will be the team’s 36th invitation to the tournament, but it is their first postseason appearance since 2015. 

The men closed out their final regular-season match on Saturday, Nov. 13 with a 1-0 away game loss against Northwest Nazarene University. 

The only goal of the game was scored by Northwest Nazarene Nighthawks’ Sebastian Cotrau at the 37-minute-mark during a goalmouth scramble. The ball was tapped in behind SPU senior goalie Lars Helleren. This loss did not affect the Falcons standings in the GNAC and they still won the conference title. 

In the postseason, the Falcons are the ninth seed in Super Region Four, and will face Colorado State Pueblo on Thursday, Nov. 18 at Cal State Los Angeles. 

VOLLEYBALL: 

The women’s volleyball team has had a wonderful home game record in the 2021-2022 fall season of 10-0, and their momentum did not stop as they faced Simon Fraser at Royal Brougham Pavilion on Thursday, Nov. 11. The Falcons came out on top as they defeated their opponents 3-1. 

The team won the first set after a tight back and forth battle with Simon Fraser as they took the set 25-23 after a last-minute kill by senior outside hitter Erin Gould. The second set of the match was not as close, as the Falcons raced ahead and won, 25-16. 

SPU almost took home the shutout victory, but Simon Fraser was able to beat the Falcons 25-21 in the third set, after an attack error by sophomore outside hitter Sydney Perry.

In the final set of the game, SPU cut off the momentum gained by their opponents, as Perry gained a kill and won the set, 25-20. 

On Saturday, Nov. 13, the Falcons hoped to continue their home game winning streak of 11 games but were shut down by Western Washington University on SPU’s Senior Night. SPU would lose the match 3-1.

The match started off great for the Falcons as they secured the first set in a 26-24 victory after fifth-year outside hitter Maddie Batiste scored the set-winning kill. Batiste was able to reach 1,000 total career points in this match and is the 18th player in the program’s 36-year history to reach that milestone. 

Unfortunately, the Falcons quickly lost all of their momenta and allowed the Vikings to take home the next three sets. Both the second and third sets were easily won by Western Washington with scores of 25-18 and 25-19. 

The final set was much closer, but the Falcons were still unable to pull ahead as they lost 25-23. This was their first home game loss of the season and would take their home game record to 11-1. 

The women will finish their season with their last two games on Thursday, Nov. 18 against Central Washington University and on Saturday, Nov. 20 against Northwest Nazarene. 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: 

On Friday, Nov. 12, the women’s basketball team played their second game outside of their regular conference against Corban University. The Falcons won the game 63-38. In the first half of the game, SPU scored 33 points, 12 points more than their opponents who scored 21. 

SPU continued to dominate in the second half of the game and scored an additional 30 points while Corban only scored 17. Sophomore guard Anna Eddy and sophomore forward Beth Pettingill scored the most points of the game at 12 each. 

Senior guard Kaprice Boston had the second-most points in the game at 10. 

SPU played in their first regular-season GNAC game on Saturday, Nov. 13 against Humboldt State University, clutching a very close victory 54-52. The Falcons and the Jacks competed in an aggressive battle and both scored 27 points in the first half. Senior guard and forward Ashley Alter scored the most points in the first half with five. 

The score in the second half was separated by only two points as the Falcons outscored the Jacks 27-25. 

The Falcons’ next game will be on Monday, Nov. 15 against Hawaii Pacific University. 

MEN’S BASKETBALL: 

The men’s basketball team traveled to Kellogg Arena in Pomona, California to play Cal Poly Pomona University on Friday, Nov. 12 in a non-conference game. SPU ended up losing to their opponents in a close contest, 75-71. 

In the first half of the game, the Falcons fell short to Cal Poly Pomona as they outscored them 38-33. Despite this setback, SPU would come back in the second half of the game and return the favor. They outscored the Broncos 32-27. 

Due to SPU’s resiliency in the second half, they were able to come out of the game with a tie, which sent the game into overtime. During the overtime period, the Broncos started off hot and scored three points within the first two minutes. 

The Falcons tried to answer back with six points of their own, but in the end, the Broncos would take the victory as they scored an additional eight to complete the game. Sophomore guard Zack Paulsen scored the most points for the Falcons at 19. Graduate student guard Harry Cavell scored only three less at 16. 

The men stayed in California on Saturday, Nov. 13, as they played in yet another out-of-conference game against Chico State University. In this game, the Falcons would be served their second loss of the week, 70-65. 

SPU looked to be off to a good start as they came out of the first half on top with Chico State trailing them by one point, 35-34. Unfortunately for the Falcons, the tides would quickly shift. Chico State pulled ahead and outscored the Falcons in the second half, 36-30. 

Despite the loss, junior forward Shaw Anderson was able to rack up the most points for his team at 16. Anderson has the second-most points scored for SPU so far at 56. He is just below senior guard Divant’e Moffitt who has scored 63 total points this season. 

The Falcons will play their next game against Azusa Pacific University on Friday, Nov. 19 as they compete in the Chuck Randall Classic in Bellingham, Washington, which will be hosted by Western Washington University.