Thursday, November 15, 2012

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Carlo Basso scored on a header with 4:18 remaining in the second half as Simon Fraser won the NCAA Division II Men's West Regional soccer title Thursday with a 2-1 victory over Grand Canyon at the GCU Soccer Stadium.  

The Clan are just the second GNAC team to win the West Region title joining Seattle University which won titles in 2004 and 2006.  In 2004 the Redhawks went on to win the national title, while they lost in the quarterfinals in 2006.

SFU will play Incarnate Word from the Lone Star Conference Saturday  in the quarterfinals.  The winner advances to the Final Four Nov. 29 and Dec. 1 at Evans, Ga.  Kickoff at the GCU Soccer Stadium will be 7 p.m.

"We played a very good first half tonight," said SFU head coach Alan Koch who has led his team to an 18-1-1 record this fall. "I think we played well enough that we could have been up by two or three at the half.

"Grand Canyon is a quality team though and they came back in the second half. We showed some class late to score that goal. It wasn't our best performance in the second half but at this stage of the season, we'll take it."

The Clan appeared to be in control in the first half, and although they outshot the Antelopes 9-2 in the period, they could not take the lead until the 42nd minute.

Matt Besuschko (Port Moody, BC) scored it for SFU, knocking the ball into the back left of the net off a Juan Sanchez (Armenia, Columbia) corner kick.

Grand Canyon answered back in the second half, tying the game on a penalty kick in the 66th minute.  In the 45 minute session, the Antelopes outshot the Clan 12-4 to finish with a 14-13 edge in total shots.

JD Blakley (Sasktoon, SK) came out to challenge Antelope forward Saeed Robinson and fouled the Grand Canyon striker, resulting in a penalty kick.

Robinson made no mistake on the free kick, beating Blakley, who had three saves for the game, and knotting the match at one.

With time winding down, the Clan took back the lead in the 86th minute.  Chris Bargholz (Fuessen, Germany) crossed the ball in and Basso (Coquitlam, BC) finished with a header that beat the GCU keeper on the left side of the net to get the lead back for SFU. It was his 13th goal of the year.

"Justin (Wallace) made a great play in our own half," said Basso. "He got the ball up to Chris (Bargholz) who put a beautiful ball in to me and I didn't really have to do much to be honest, just put it in the back of the net."