BURNABY, BC - On Saturday, September 9th, the Sonoma State men's soccer team concluded their Canada road trip with a matchup against Simon Fraser under the lights. After an 0-2-1 start, the Seawolves felt like they needed a win to get the ball rolling and that's exactly what they got as sophomore winger
Jvon Cunningham would smash home an 85th minute game winner. Senior forward
Oliver Ziemer would lead the charge on the counter and record his team leading third assist of the season.
FINAL SSU 1-0 SFU
After a 19-shot performance on Thursday, the Seawolves would tally another 18 shots tonight and keep the pressure on Simon Fraser all game long. In the second half, both teams would combine for 16 shots on target, allowing SSU keeper
Jack Chapman to record a season high 7 saves as he got his first start of his Seawolf career.
With the game winding down, Chapman would come up with a pivotal save off of a curling shot from the left side of the 18-yard box, keeping the game scoreless and adding to his stellar night in goal. No more than two minutes later, the Seawolves opportunity would come off of a Simon Fraser goal kick.
A 50/50 challenge at midfield would result in a won header by center back
Ian Reis. Sophomore winger
Patrick Neill would help the ball up the left side with a header of his own that would bounce towards the SFU center back. Coming out to clear the ball just inside their own half, the defender would slip and allow
Oliver Ziemer to gain possession and drive into the offensive third. Ziemer would dribble into the box with two defenders close on his tail and then center a ball between two defenders to
Jvon Cunningham who was making his run on the back post. The ball would fall to Cunningham and after taking a touch to settle the bounce, he would rifle it into the near post to give the Seawolves a 1-0 lead.
Cunningham recorded his second goal of the season to tie the team lead and Ziemer would go on to pick up his third assist and second in back-to-back games. The team would celebrate in front of the Simon Fraser crowd on the near side and eventually hang on for the 1-0 victory, their first of the 2023 season. "Thursday sucked", said head coach
Marcus Ziemer. "As I told the boys after the game, we've had a tough start to the season but all we can do is move forward and that's what we did tonight. Great win for our group and we're excited to keep the train rolling" (Ziemer).
90-minute performers for Sonoma State included defenders
Elliot Stanley,
Ian Reis,
Lucas English and freshman midfielder
Caleb Yoon.
LOOKING AHEAD
Sonoma State picks up their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory over GNAC member Simon Fraser. The Seawolves will travel home and gear up for another non-conference game against the 2022 PacWest Champions, Dominican, on Thursday, September 14th. Kick off is slated for 3:00 PM and live stats and ticket links can be found at sonomaseawolves.com.
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
