BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Making their longest road trip of the season, the University of Mary Men's Soccer team took on Western Washington University this afternoon to mark the beginning of the final road exodus for the 2015 season.
 
The Marauders (3-10-1, 2-8-0 GNAC) fell behind early in the match to the Vikings (5-6-3, 3-5-2 GNAC) and never recovered as U-Mary lost 3-0 to Western Washington.
 
The Vikings put their foot on the gas in the initial minutes of the first half as they took five corner kicks and five shots by the third minute that kept the Marauders' defense on their heels. Western Washington broke through in the eight minute when Adam Talley intercepted a pass back on the defense and snuck a shot past the keeper that put U-Mary in a 1-0 hole before they could muster a response.
 
The Marauders managed to get the offense going in the 14th minute when Ramsey Blahnik fired off a shot that sailed wide of the goal, followed by two corner kick attempts and another shot attempt from Alex Boyes in the 23rd minute, but nothing would find the back of the net as U-Mary tried to regain the momentum.
 
The rest of the first half saw both teams trading shots back and forth with the Vikings trying to extend their lead as Wesley Stark took a shot on goal attempt in the 37th minute, but Ludvig Rhodin made the key save to keep the match close at 1-0 going into halftime.
 
Yet it seemed that defensive miscues would be the ultimate downfall for U-Mary in the match as Conner Pichette intercepted another pass only 16 seconds into the second half and sent a through pass to Adam Talley who finished the attempt with another goal that put the Vikings up 2-0 just as the teams were seemingly coming back onto the pitch.
 
Jordan Pearce mustered a shot on goal attempt merely seconds later but the shot was saved by Tyler Visten and the Marauders were forced to play catch up as the Vikings once again put the pressure on starting in the 69 minute.
 
Western Washington ended up with a series of shots and corner kick attempts as U-Mary's defense was put to the test with three corner kicks and three shots, one on goal, as Rhodin again put a stop to the efforts with another save.
 
The Marauders mounted the counterattack as they fired off four shots by the 79th minute but the Vikings' defense held strong as they blocked two and Visten made the save on a third to keep U-Mary scoreless late in the match.
 
Talley added his third goal of the match in the 86th minute off a give-and-go from Leonard Kusina that slithered past U-Mary's defenders and found the back of the net once again to put the match well out of reach at 3-0 with the Marauders taking the eventual loss.
 
U-Mary's offense did a good job of spreading the wealth around as five different players recorded at least two shots, led by André Almqvist with three shots, one on goal, while Boyes, Pearce, Blahnik, and Lucas Felice all took two shots apiece.
 
The Marauders did a good job of keeping the tempo of the match in check as they committed only six fouls to Western Washington's 11, and the defense held fast as the Vikings failed to convert a single corner kick as they took 11 in the match.
 
U-Mary will stay in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend as they travel to Burnaby, British Columbia, for a rematch against Simon Fraser University on Saturday, October 24, starting at 9:30 PM CDT.
 
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