Thursday, November 16, 2023
by Thomas Lal

Los Angeles, Calif. – After going into halftime tied  1-1, the Simon Fraser men’s soccer team’s season ended Thursday night with a 3-1 loss to Point Loma in Los Angeles.

The Red Leafs came into the NCAA Super Region 4 Championships as the No. 7 seed and matched up against the No. 10 seed Sealions. Senior goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu did all he could to keep SFU in the game, coming through with seven saves against 22 total shots, including 10 on goal.

It was the Sealions who struck first in the seventh minute off a redirected free kick to put Simon Fraser behind early. Senior captain and reigning GNAC Player of the Year Devin O’Hea had a chance to equalize in the 12th minute from the penalty spot after a handball in the box but was denied on a stretching save by Point Loma’s goalkeeper. O’Hea finished the night with four shots, the most of any SFU player.

To their credit, the Red Leafs refused to back down with GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Niko Papakyriakopoulos coming through in the 38th minute to level the score at 1-1 on an assist from freshman forward Koji Poon. Papakyriakopoulos finished his night with two shots after playing all but one minute on the back line.

The two sides traded several chances throughout the second half, with PLNU narrowly outshooting SFU 11-9 in the final frame. The Seawolves scored the first of two goals in the half in the 76th minute before putting away the insurance marker in the 86th.

The loss marks the end of Simon Fraser’s season. The Red Leafs finish the 2023 campaign with an 11-5-2 overall record (8-2-1 GNAC) and as conference champions for the first time since 2018.