SEATTLE, Wash. - Making another long trip back west, the University of Mary Men's Soccer team took on #9 Seattle Pacific University today for the start of the penultimate week of regular season competition in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
 
The Marauders (3-12-1, 2-10-0 GNAC) fell behind the Falcons (12-1-3, 8-1-3 GNAC) midway through the first half and never recovered despite a late goal and U-Mary left Interbay Stadium empty handed with Seattle Pacific claiming the season sweep, 2-1.
 
The Falcons got the ball rolling early with a header shot and a corner kick attempts by the third minute of the match, but action grounded to a halt immediately after with neither team taking a shot until the 20th minute of the match.
 
Seattle Pacific took another corner kick attempt from Jordan Kollars in the 20th minute and his long pass found the head of Bryson Pavel who headed the shot past Ludvig Rhodin from approximately eight yards out from the net for the first goal of the match.
 
The Falcons dominated the entirety of the first half though, as the Marauders failed to take a shot in the half while Seattle Pacific managed eight total with Rhodin making a save to go with two blocked shots. So U-Mary went into break down 1-0 despite the onslaught with hopes of seizing momentum in the second half.
 
Unfortunately, Seattle Pacific picked up right where they left off early in the second as they took four shots by the 56th minute of the match. They eventually broke through U-Mary's defensive line in the 56th minute as Kennan dePinna took the ball on his own down the pitch and sent a long shot from about 25 yards out that sailed past Rhodin and gave the Falcons a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The Marauders finally got their first shot of the match in the 59th minute from Christoffer Nogueira but it made little difference as Cody Lang earned the save, and the Falcons kept turning the pressure up on U-Mary throughout the remainder of the half but couldn't find the combination for a third goal.
 
U-Mary finally broke through Seattle Pacific's back line as Nogueira lined up the corner kick in the 78th minute, and his perfect touch found it's way into the keeper's box where Alex Boyes headed the shot home to cut the Falcon's lead down to 2-1 late in the match.
 
Nogueira almost had the equalizer in the 83rd minute off another corner kick, similar to a goal he scored last year in the second match of the year against Montana State University - Billings, and his long attempt started to curve into the net, but Lang put an immediate stop to the shot to keep U-Mary down 2-1.
 
Jordan Pearce took a late shot in the 90th minute in a desperate attempt to even the score but his attempt sailed wide of the goal and the Marauders, despite the spirited effort, came away with their sixth straight loss.
 
U-Mary faced 19 shots in total with seven coming on target as Ludvig Rhodin finished the match with five saves. The corner kicks certainly favored the home team as well with Seattle Pacific taking 10 in the match while U-Mary was held to two.
 
The Marauders will stay in the area, as they will take on Saint Martin's University on Saturday, October 31, starting at 5:15 PM.
 
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