Seattle Pacific University’s men’s soccer team began in-conference play in Lacey, Washington, against Saint Martin’s University on Thursday, Oct. 3.
The final score was 6-1, opening the 2024-2025 season with a win for SPU.
The first goal of the game was scored by SPU’s Raymundo Mendez, a midfielder and transfer senior from Columbia Basin College, shortly into the game’s fourth minute. Mendez was named SPU’s Newcomer of the Year in 2023 and currently is tied for first place in goals for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Division II men’s soccer statistics with five goals.
Junior midfielder Connor Tollan was the top scorer for the game, tallying two of the SPU’s six goals. Bringing his season total to four goals, Tollan currently sits in fifth place for GNAC scoring.
SPU returned home to Interbay Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 5, for their game against Western Washington University. It was a heated match for Western Washington, as they had yet to win a game or score a goal since the preseason.
The final score was a 2-2 tie.
Western Washington’s defense held strong against SPU, staying close on the ball and covering any breakaways. Tollan broke through the defense 22 minutes into the first half to score SPU’s first goal with an assist from Mendez.
“Western’s always a tough team. [It’s] unfortunate to come away with the tie, but at the end of the day, we’ll take the result, learn from it, and move on,” Tollan said.
Western Washington would respond 16 minutes later by tying the score 1-1. The first half ended 1-1.
Tensions rose in the second half, both teams getting more aggressive. Mendez was knocked down and had to be escorted off the field by one of SPU’s athletic trainers.
After almost seven minutes, Mendez was able to return to the field with a bandaged nose. Mendez scored SPU’s second goal of the match with 21 minutes remaining in the second half, taking advantage of a free kick from a Western Washington foul.
“It was just one of those moments [but] we got the momentum back. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out,” Mendez said.
Western Washington evened the score ten minutes following Mendez’s goal.
Both sides went hunting for the game-winning goal but neither managed to succeed before the clock stopped.
“Anytime we play Western, they’re super combative and super competitive,” Sakuda said. “I was proud of some of the opportunities we created, and it’s disappointing to have given up that second goal [but] we played a lot of back and forth, and these games are tight all across the conference.”
SPU’s in-conference record is now 1-0-1 and 4-2-2 overall, placing them second in the GNAC Division II rankings beneath Western Oregon University.
Men’s soccer will play Western Oregon on Saturday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at Interbay Stadium.
