BISMARCK, N.D. - Looking to build on their last-minute win over Simon Fraser University on Thursday, the University of Mary Men's Soccer team played host to Western Washington University for another Great Northwest match.
 
The Marauders (2-4-1, 1-2-0 GNAC) fell into an early hole and never recovered as the Vikings (3-2-2, 1-1-1 GNAC) stifled the U-Mary attack en route to a 3-1 decision.
 
U-Mary had the first scoring opportunity of the match when Aaron Brennan took a corner kick in the fifth minute but to no avail; the Marauders had another chance in the eighth minute on a shot from James Liddiard but sailed wide right of the goal
 
The Vikings put early pressure on the Marauders with two shots of their own coming by the 19th minute, but their shots also failed to fall on target as U-Mary had good defensive presence carried over from the last match.
 
Western Washington notched the first goal of the match when Adam Talley took a pass from Luke Olney and fired a shot off into the upper right corner of the goal just past the outstretched hands of Mitch Taveira to put the Vikings up 1-0 by the 19th minute.
 
The Vikings wouldn't stop there as Kurtis Pederson took a pass from Eleazer Galvan in the 21st minute and snuck a shot past the keeper to put U-Mary in a 2-0 hole early on in the match.
 
The Marauder's offense found a rhythm in the 30th minute of the match when Lucas Felice took a shot on goal but couldn't beat Tyler Visten, who was starting in goal for the Vikings. U-Mary kept the offense moving with another shot from Brennan that was saved in the 34th minute and another shot from Liddiard, which was also saved, in the 35th minute.
 
U-Mary finally broke through when Jonathan Sellars headed a free kick from Brennan in the 36th minute to beat the keeper and cut into the Vikings' lead at 2-1.
 
Both teams recorded another shot before the half with neither falling on target and the Marauders went into the locker room down 2-1 at the break.
 
The second half saw much of the same from the Marauders' offense as Liddiard took another shot on goal in the 50th minute, but the keeper proved resilient and made another save. Felice had another shot of his own in the 52nd minute but couldn't keep it on target as it went high over the net and the Vikings took advantage of a Marauder yellow in the next minute to transition back onto U-Mary's half of the pitch.
 
Galvan extended Western Washington's lead in the 54th minute with a dramatic bicycle kick off a pass from Olney that went past the keeper and made the score 3-1 in favor of the Vikings.
 
The Marauders weren't done yet as Ramsey Blahnik fired off a shot in the 55th minute but couldn't beat the keeper as Visten made yet another save. Christoffer Nogueira got in on the action as well with a shot on goal in the 60th minute yet couldn't provide the touch to put it past the keeper as Visten recorded the save.
 
U-Mary kept the pressure on the Vikings with another shot in the 69th minute from André Almqvist, which was block by Western Washington's defense, and the Marauders had two corner kick opportunities in the following minutes but couldn't find the right combination to narrow the deficit.
 
Guilherme Zogbi provided another spearhead for the Marauder offense as he took a shot on goal in the 73rd minute, yet Visten again proved his worth with another save. Galvan had a chance to extend the lead for Western Washington in the 76th minute but his shot was saved by Taveira to keep the score at 3-1.
 
The Marauders kept the offense rolling with three more shots on goal before the end of the match but Visten would not crack and U-Mary eventually lost the match 3-1.
 
Liddiard led the offense with three shots on goal while Nogueria provided two of his own.
 
Sellars needed only one opportunity to notch a goal as he had one shot in the match.
 
As a team, the Marauders took 11 shots but credit to Visten for making 10 saves; U-Mary also had a 7-1 corner kick advantage but couldn't capitalize on their chances.
 
The Marauders will head out on the road next week, starting with a visit to Nampa, Idaho, for a match against #22 Northwest Nazarene University starting at 6 p.m., CDT.
 
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