Saturday, November 15, 2014

SEATTLE, Wash. - A second half penalty kick goal was the difference in Seattle Pacific’s win over Northwest Nazarene in the West Region semifinals of the NCAA tournament Saturday at Interbay Stadium.

The Falcons now get to host the next two rounds of the NCAA tournament. SPU will play Thursday at 7 p.m. against third seed Cal State Los Angeles and will host the national quarterfinals on Saturday.

NNU’s season comes to an end with a 15-4-1 record. The Crusaders earned their first ever NCAA tournament win on Thursday with a 1-0 defeat of Simon Fraser.

Seattle Pacific avenges its only loss of the season against NNU in a battle of the top two teams in the GNAC.

SPU struck first in the 10th minute when Stephen MacDonald dribbled into the left side box and found Jordan Kollars for the quick goal.

NNU answered back with 11 shots in the next 30 minutes, but Falcons goalkeeper Cody Lang kept the opponents scoreless.

In the 43rd minute the Crusaders finally struck as Julio Castillo found Fredy Razo from midfield and dribbled around Lang for a score 16 yards out. It was Razo’s 13th goal of the season and his last in his Crusader career.

After playing to a 1-1 draw at half, the Falcons Danny Olivas was tripped up inside the box in the 68th minute and received a penalty shot. Olivas put the kick just out of reach of the NNU goalkeeper for the game-winner.

Even though the Crusaders out shot the Falcons 21-11, NNU only had two more shots on goal than SPU did.

Lang stopped a season-high seven shots while NNU goalie and GNAC defensive Player of the Year Alfredo Ontiveros recorded four before leaving the match because of injury.

The 2014 Crusaders end the season as one of the most successful men’s soccer teams NNU has ever had. They earned their first ever NCAA top 25 ranking mid season and were selected to their first NCAA tournament last Monday.

Seattle Pacific will face a 14-3-2 Cal State L.A. team that advanced in the first round by penalty kicks. The Golden Eagles beat second seed Azusa Pacific on Saturday to advance to the West Region Championship match.