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Clan win GNAC title

For the sixth time in eight years, the SFU Clan men’s soccer team are champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
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For the sixth time in eight years, the SFU Clan men’s soccer team are champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

But it wasn’t easy as a lot of pieces had to fall into place over the weekend for SFU to climb over Seattle Pacific University to the top of the table.

One of those was the Clan’s big 2-0 victory over the SPU Falcons on Saturday. That, when combined with an upset win by Concordia over Western Washington University, secured SFU’s conference championship and automatic entry in the NCAA Div. II playoffs that begin on Nov. 9. Had the WWU Falcons won Saturday, they could have caught the Clan with another victory when the two teams went head-to-head on Sunday at Terry Fox Field in Burnaby to close out the regular season.

As it was, though, the game was meaningless and they played to a 0-0 draw.

Saturday, against Seattle Pacific, Mamadi Camara’s goal in the 11th minute proved to be the winner after he was set up by Archbishop Carney secondary grad Michael North and Magnus Kristensen.

Camara also scored the insurance marker with less than two minutes to play in full time when he deposited a pass from Coquitlam’s Matteo Polisi into the lower right corner of the SPU net from 12 yards out.

Sunday, the Clan rested a number of its regular players in their game against Western Washington that was rescheduled from Thursday because of snow. Matteo Polisi, coming off the bench, had two of SFU’s nine shots, while Coquitlam’s Sam Lee had the best chance to give his side the win late in the second overtime period, but Vikings’ keeper Tyler Visten was able to make the save. 

Terry Fox grad Aidan Bain stopped eight shots to earn his first shutout.

The weekend results not only vaulted SFU into the NCAA tournament, they also preserved the Clan’s unblemished record on home turf that dates back 25 matches.

* The third-seeded Clan will play no. 6 see Cal Poly Pomona in the first round of the NCAA Div. II West Regional, Thursday in San Diego, Calif. The two teams clashed in the West Regional semi-final last year, when SFU was upset by the Broncos on penalty kicks. The winner of Thursday's match will go on to play no. 2 seed Point Loma on Saturday.