Sports - Local Colleges

POSTED: Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

WWU MEN'S SOCCER: Vikings end season with victory

Western Washington University ended its season with a 2-0 victory over league champion Saint Martin's University in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's soccer game Thursday, Nov. 5, at Orca Field.

The Vikings finished 8-11-1 with a season-best four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1), and second in the GNAC standings at 5-3-0.

Saint Martin's, which clinched the league title last week, fell to 11-7-0 overall and 6-2-0 in league play.

"The guys really wanted it, they wanted to make a statement against the conference champs," said Western coach Travis Connell.

Western, the defending GNAC champion, opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the first half. A Saint Martin's clearance of a free kick by the Vikings' Thomas Kauffman came back to Kauffman and he blasted in a shot from 25 yards that deflected off a Saints' defender and into the net.

In the 48th minute, Western midfielder Kellan Brown hit a driven cross from the right side that found Darragh Simm (Jr., Woodinville) eight yards out. Simm's hard volley bounced off the turf and hopped into the net for an insurance goal.

The goals were Western career firsts for both Kauffman, who completed his third season, and Simm, who finished his second year after transferring from Bellevue CC.

It was the fifth assist for Brown, who was the Vikings' leading scorer with 10 goals and 25 points.

Saint Martin's played the last 23 minutes a man down as Vlad Voin picked up two yellow cards. The second card came when he continued to argue after getting the initial booking.

In the final 20 seconds, the Saints' James Schmid was red-carded after a hard tackle.

The game was the last for four Western seniors - midfielder Mitch Barrows, goalkeeper Cameron Copps-Tilley, defender Chris Jepson and defender Chris Shin.

"It's a great way for our seniors to go out," Connell said. "They played well, Cam got a shutout ... I can't say enough about them. They've grown up to be great soccer players and class guys. It's the best part of my job to see that."