By: Chris Januardi Lim
On a chilly Saturday night, the SFU men’s soccer team showed us why they are number two in the National Collegiate Athletic Association division two national rankings. The Clan dominated possession the whole game as they sailed to a 5–1 victory over the St. Martin’s University (SMU) Saints. With the win they improve to a 5–0–1 record this season, handing SMU their seventh loss in their winless season so far.
In the fourth minute of the first half, it was apparent that SFU’s movement was going to be too much for SMU. The Saints committed a foul inside their own box, leading to a penalty, which would turn into Matteo Polisi’s fourth goal of the season.
After the goal, SFU kept the attack going. The right wing was ruled by the attack of forward Connor Glennon and the support runs of right back Jeff Cadman. Constant bombardments down the wing was the attacking strategy set by coach Clint Schneider.
“We needed to get the ball out wide, beat them out wide, and whip the ball in, and [with that] we scored four goals [in the] second half,” said coach Schneider.
It could’ve been a frustrating game for SFU, as they couldn’t capitalize off their chances in the first half. They registered seven shots on goal, with two key chances in the 20th and the 34th that were both shot a whisker wide of the net. Nevertheless, the game soon opened up in the second half for SFU.
In the 56th minute, a give and go in the midfield from Riley Pang to Matteo Polisi led to a goal from 15 yards out as Polisi netted his fifth goal of the season. Pang was involved again in the 63rd minute as he netted in a cross from Mamadi Camara.
Sadly, Miguel Hof was unable to keep a clean sheet as Kyle Witzel from SMU was able to break free off the right side to net in a goal. This goal, however, seemed to spark SFU as Dzenan Bezdrob scored right after the kickoff within less than a minute of SMU’s goal. To end off an amazing game, Connor Glennon also scored a penalty kick in the 89th minute to give SFU a momentous victory.
It seemed like the whole game SMU played with ten men defending behind the ball, but that wasn’t enough as SFU smashed in five goals in the 5–1 victory. The Clan’s path to number one in the rankings will continue as they travel to face the Concordia Cavaliers on September 28 at 7 p.m.
