By: Victor Gouchee
On Thursday, September 28, the number two ranked SFU men’s soccer team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Concordia Cavaliers in Portland, Oregon. The Clan, who opened the season 5–0–1, have been a formidable side while on their home pitch in Burnaby, scoring 14 goals in three games while only conceding one. Away from home, on the other hand, SFU has been a different side. Still going undefeated heading into Thursday’s match, the Clan had only managed five goals in three games, while giving up three.
Thursday was a new experience for SFU, who gave up a goal in just the third minute of play. After conceding early, the Clan would tie it up in the 19th minute thanks to Connor Glennon’s third goal of the season. Not too long after, Concordia would regain the lead, eventually adding another goal two minutes before halftime, making the score 3–1 going into the break.
This was the Clan’s first time trailing at the half this season. In fact, SFU never led the entire match. Down 3–1 after the first 45 minutes, head coach Clint Schneider stated, “We were not good enough in the first half and were punished by an organized, hungry, and hard-working team.” When looking at the first-half statistics, it was indeed not good enough from the Clan. The teams were even with seven shots a piece, but SFU led Concordia with six corner kicks to zero. It was clear that frustration was rising for SFU, with nine fouls to the Cavaliers’ three.
Come the second half, SFU came out firing, adding 17 more shots, four more corner kicks, and holding Concordia to zero shots and zero corner kicks. The Clan would get one goal back in the 79th minute, thanks to freshman Matteo Polisi, his sixth goal of the season.
“. . . [W]e had chances to equalize, [but we] just didn’t capitalize . . . I always expect to win every game we play . . . Every loss is a bad loss as far as I’m concerned,” said Schneider, who will be hoping to showcase just how strong SFU is with a dominant, statement performance in their next game this Saturday, September 30 in California.
A bright spot for SFU has been the streak that freshman Matteo Polisi has been on. Six goals in seven games for the Clan shows that the freshman is more than ready for NCAA soccer.
Additionally, freshman Connor Glennon has also started to hit his stride as of late, with two goals and an assist in his last two appearances. Schneider is very happy to have his young guys step up and get on the scoresheet, but is confident in how talented the rest of the team is, and strongly believes that this loss was nothing more than a bit of a bump in the road.
The Clan looks to get back on track this Saturday against California State in Carson City, California. The game is set to kick off at 5 p.m.
