Thursday, September 11, 2014

PORTLAND, Ore. – Start quick seems to be a theme with the Clan this men’s soccer season.

Simon Fraser had a great start to the season after defeating its opponents by a 7-2 goal margin after its first two regular season matches.

Last Thursday the Clan put up three goals in the first half in a 3-0 win against Sonoma State and scored two more goals in the first half of Tuesdays 4-2 win over Hawaii Hilo.

Senior Jovan Blagojevic (F, 6-0, Sr., Coquitlam, BC) leads the Clan in scoring with three goals. With those goals, Blagojevic moves into a tie for 16^th place on the GNAC all-time scoring list.

The Clan, who moved up to the No. 2 spot in this week’s NSCAA Top 25 poll, are followed closely by the only other undefeated team in the conference, Seattle Pacific.

The Falcons, who received seven votes in the NSCAA poll, beat Humboldt State 1-0 and tied 16^th ranked Chico State in the first week of the regular season.

Northwest Nazarene and Western Washington each went 1-1 down in California last week. WWU knocked off then ninth-ranked UC Sand Diego 1-0 with an early score and NNU handled Cal State Stanislaus 2-0 on Thursday.

Montana State Billings tied Upper Iowa 2-2 in its season opener thanks to two assists by Sam Butterworth (D, 5-11, Jr., Aylesford, England) at the SDM Mt. Rushmore Kickoff in South Dakota.

Also at the SDM Mt. Rushmore Kickoff was host South Dakota Mines, which went 0-2 in the tournament after losing both tightly-contested games by one goal.

Saint Martin’s plays two more games in California this week as it looks to rebound from a rough road trip last week.

The University of Mary has not recorded a match yet. Its season and home opener is scheduled for Friday against Fort Hays State.