Clan Opens With Win Over WWU
from press release
BURNABY, B.C. - Simon Fraser opened the 2011
regular season on Saturday, Feb. 12 with a convincing, 15-5 win
over regional PNCLL Division II opponent Western Washington. Six
different Clan players posted multi-point games, led by sophomore
attack Colton Dow (Coquitlam, BC / Heritage Woods Secondary) and
junior midfield Rick Bezuidenhout (Campbell, River, BC / Timberline
Secondary) with five points each on two goals and three
assists.
Sophomore attack Stu Mills (Campbell River, BC / Timberline
Secondary) and freshmen short stick midfield Tom Newton (Saskatoon,
SK / Aden Bowmen Collegiate) and also had strong games offensively
contributing three goals, one assist and three goals,
respectively.
The victory, in front of approximately 150 fans who braved a wet
and rainy afternoon at Cunnings Field in Coquitlam, B.C., marked
SFU's seventh consecutive win, in seven season openers under
current co-head Coaches Jeff Cathrea and Brent Hoskins.
With 14 of 24 players gone from last year's team that reached the MCLA semifinals, a fresh-faced Clan exploded out of the gates to start that 2011 campaign with seven different players, including four underclassmen, scoring to ignite a 9-0 run to start the contest. Fraser led 7-0 after the first quarter, with Bezuidenhout (1g, 2a) and Dow (2g) leading the early charge.
SFU continued a fast scoring pace to start the second frame as Newton scored the first goals of his collegiate career back-to-back to extend the Clan lead to nine. A resilient Western Washington squad would finally find their rhythm offensively, scoring consecutively to close the game to 9-2 before senior short stick midfield Ben Johnson (Calgary, AB / Berkshire Preparatory) scored his second of the half to give the Clan a 10-2 advantage heading into the break.
The Vikings came out undeterred to start the third quarter and would be first on the board as attackman Stasi Dragseth (Lynnwood, WA / Meadowdale HS) scored his second of the game to make the score 10-3. Dow would then assist on two of Fraser's next three goals to stretch the Clan lead to ten and reset the score at 13-3 heading into the final quarter.
Senior attack Chris Tessarolo (New Westminster, BC / New Westminster Secondary) scored his second of the game to kick-off the remaining fifteen minutes of action but Western once again refused to go easily in the fourth as freshman attack Bjorn Ostenson (Bainbridge Island, WA / Bainbridge HS) scored his second of the game on the man-up and then completed the hat trick even strength to respond with another two-goal run for the Vikings. Newton and Mills would round out the scoring in the game's closing minutes as each capped-off a hat trick of their own for a final score of 15-5.
This is the second straight year that the Clan and Vikings have faced each other to start the season continuing a long standing rivalry between the regional foes. SFU opened the 2010 season with a 18-3 win over WWU, with both teams going on to qualify as an at-large bid for the MCLA Division I and II National Championships.
Fraser will have a week off before traveling to Utah to play the Utes on Friday, February 25 and Brigham Young Cougars on Saturday, February 26 for their first out-of-conference match-ups of the season. Western Washington will also now take a week off before visiting Western Oregon on Saturday, February 26 in a rematch of the 2010 PNCLL Div. II Conference Final.
For further information on Simon Fraser men's lacrosse please visit sfulacrosse.com or follow the Clan on Twitter at twitter.com/fraserlacrosse.
SIMON FRASER (1-0) 7-3-2-3/15
WESTERN WASHINGTON (0-4) 0-2-1-2/5
GOALS: SFU: Mills-3, Newton-3, Bezuidenhout-2, Dow-2, Johnson-2, Tessarolo-2, Koesdibyo. WWU: Ostenson-3, Dragseth-2.
ASSISTS: SFU: Bezuidenhout-3, Dow-3, Mills, Tessarolo. WWU: Farahani, Harvey.
NOTES
- The Clan's starting line-up for 2011 featured 3 freshmen, 3
sophomores and 4 seniors. 6 freshmen registered their first
collegiate minutes.
- Fraser dressed 15 players consisting of 10 underclassmen and 5 upperclassmen. Not dressed were freshmen Calvin Craig (Coquitlam, BC / Glen Eagle Secondary) and Darren Zwack (Sherwood Park, AB / Archbishop Jordan High School) and sophomores Mitch Frank (Burnaby, BC / St. Thomas More Collegiate) and Eric Ransom (Sherwood Park, AB / Bev Facey High School).
- Sophomore Kyle Middleton (Nanaimo, BC / Woodlands Secondary) made his first collegiate start in goal, going the distance and making 10 saves with 5 goals against (.667 Save %).
- Clan freshmen Cory Koesdibyo - 1g (Nanaimo, BC / Dover Bay Secondary) and Newton (3g) scored their first collegiate points.
- SFU registered 60 ground balls. Seniors Nathan Clare (Ladner, BC / Vancouver College) and Johnson led the way for the Clan with 12 and 10 ground balls respectively, while freshmen Newton and Riley Wanzer (Mukilteo, WA / Kamiak High School) chipped in with 7 and 6 ground balls apiece.
- Fraser won 65% of the games face-offs. Johnson won 9 of 13 (69%), with freshman Max Weselowski (Maple Ridge, BC / Meadowridge School) finishing 4 of 7 (57%).
- The Clan extended their home winning streak to 4 games dating back to March 27, 2010 after going undefeated at home for a stretch of 15 games from April 1, 2006 to March 20, 2010.
- SFU has won its opening game of the season each year since the inception of the program in 1996, a stretch totaling 16 games.
QUOTES
SFU Co-Head Coach Brent Hoskins
On Western Washington: "With only two seniors listed on their 2011
roster, Western Washington has some solid young talent and is
especially dangerous on attack. Despite being ineligible for the
2011 post-season, the Vikings should be tough to beat again this
season and should continue their run as one of the top teams in
PNCLL Div. II in the upcoming years. We were most impressed by
Coach Feld's ability to keep his team calm on the sidelines and his
team never gave up as a result which made for a competitive second
half."
SFU Co-Head Coach Jeff Cathrea
On Simon Fraser: "With so many new faces in the line-up and guys
stepping up into new roles this year we were very pleased with our
ability to jump out to such a fast start and get some valuable
experience early in the season. Overall this was a good first
performance for us and one that we will look to keep building upon
as we look forward to some challenging match-ups on the front-end
of our schedule."
