SEATTLE, WASH. – On Saturday, November 27th, the Sonoma State men's soccer team concluded their season opening road trip in Washington with a matchup against GNAC rival Seattle Pacific. The Seawolves fought to a 0-0 draw in their season opener Thursday night against Western Washington and would go on to do the same against the Falcons on Saturday afternoon. Once again
Marcus Ziemer and his squad would outshoot their opponent 11-8 in the contest but fail to convert their first goal of the season.
Another chippy and physically demanding game from both sides would allow for some good back and forth action. The Seawolves back line was once again solid and really seemed to disrupt the Falcons offensive attack. SSU generated more quality chances against SPU compared to the Western Washington game with quick swinging ball movement and dangerous wing play.
After just five total shots between the two teams in the scoreless first, a terrific run and move inside put freshman
Patrick Neill just on top of the six-yard box early in the second half where he laid a pass off to fellow freshman forward
Michael Gray. Gray would get a one-time shot off, but the Falcons defender would sell out to block the shot and keep the Seawolves off the scoreboard.
The Seawolves would have another flurry of chances in the 25th minute with some very physical play leading to some Falcons ball loss and turnovers in their own half. Junior midfielder
Nathan Arnott would come off the bench for 45 solid minutes as he was responsible for two great tackles and forced ball loss during that two-minute stretch. The Seawolves put in nearly four different through balls as they continued to threaten the goal and pin Seattle Pacific on their heels.
The best chance of the game for SPU would come just two minutes later off a free kick to the far left of the 18-yard box. The SPU forward would elect to lay the ball short and play a hard pass square across the top of the box. The Falcons midfielder would get a beautiful first-time strike off but sophomore goalkeeper
Reinier ter Riet would react and get a right hand to the powerful shot, tipping it up and rattling off the cross bar. ter Riet had his best game of the season thus far tallying a season and game high five saves in the contest.
Four different Seawolves would finish with two shots apiece as the game would find its way once again to a 0-0 draw. "Our defense was really solid again", said Ziemer. "We were able to generate more quality chances than we did against Western Washington and were truly unlucky not to score.
Patrick Neill was fantastic on the wing and our pressure to force turnovers and ball loss was great all game long."
Sonoma State remains unbeaten on the season with two opening draws against quality opponents. They will return to Seawolf Soccer Field and play in their home opener next week on Thursday, September 1st, against Simon Fraser. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM and tickets can be bought online at sonomaseawolves.com/tickets. Be sure to follow your Seawolves on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get all the latest SSU athletics updates and information. Sonoma State athletics also has launched a new fan app in partnership with From Now On. Download the free app today in both the Apple and Google Play stores by searching Sonoma State Seawolves in the app store. @SonomaSeawolves | #NomaNation
