Lacey, Wash. - The University of Jamestown men's soccer team suffered a shutout loss to Saint Martin's University Saturday afternoon in Washington State.
The Jimmies fall to 1-6-3 with five games remaining on the schedule. The Saints get to 5-6-1.
Each team notched a shot in the opening 10 minutes of the first half with Sohaib Bouika el Haddad Kaddour earning the Jamestown attempt. However, it was the Saints that got on the board in the 23rd minute.
After a series of corner kicks, a cross from the top left of the Jamestown box was headed in by Grant Deuel for a 1-0 advantage to the home team.
This shot and score by Deuel was the only shot on net that the Jimmies allowed in the first half. Bouika el Haddad Kaddour, Kai Yoshida, and Joshua Jackson all had shots on net in the final 15 minutes of the first half, but none of these were particularly close to the net.
The first half ended with a 1-0 Saint Martin's lead despite the Jimmies winning 6-5 in total shots on 3-1 on shots on goal. Jamestown did not have an opportunity with a corner kick while the Saints had four chances.
The Jimmies conceded again in the 52nd minute, but had a couple of looks after that. In the 54th minute, a ball sent back to SMU netminder Connor Leistiko was nearly intercepted by Nuutti Norhomaa. Norhomaa got control of the ball with Leistiko unable to touch it with his hands, and the Finland native took a sharp-angled shot but it was wide right.
Into the 59th minute, the Jimmies had an odd-man rush going the other way but it was whistled offside and Jamestown lost their opportunity.
The Saints began to run away with it late-game with three more goals to push ahead 5-0 as they really made the most of only their eight shots on goal. Norhomaa had another shot on goal in the 62nd minute, but this was the last time Liestiko was tested. The final buzzer sounded with the Jimmies falling 5-0 in Washington.
Both Norhomaa and Bouika el Haddad Kaddour had three total shots and one shot on target in the effort. Yoshida and Jackson had the other two shots on net while Escher Paz got two shots off though each of them missed. Valon Ismaili made three saves.
SMU had a narrow edge in shots on net at 16-13, winning shots on goal 8-4. Jamestown only had one corner kick while the Saints had seven cracks.
Jamestown will have a week to prepare for next Saturday's contest which will be north of the border at Simon Fraser University on October 10 at 2 p.m. PDT (4 p.m. CDT).
