By: Evan O'Kelly, Associate Commissioner for Communications

SEATTLE – Playing sound defense and capitalizing on its opportunities Thursday evening at Interbay Stadium, Seattle Pacific defeated Simon Fraser 2-0 in the semifinals of the 2026 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Soccer Championships.
 
Goals from Harper Sabari in the 34th minute and JP Guzman in the 53rd minute lifted the Falcons to a 2-0 advantage, and the back line kept the Red Leafs out of the net for the team’s eighth clean sheet of the season.
 
The win by SPU sets up a rematch of last year’s conference tournament title game, with the Falcons (16-3-1) advancing to face No. 1 seed Western Oregon (11-3-5) on Saturday with kickoff set for 3 p.m. (Pacific). The Wolves captured the first-ever GNAC Men’s Soccer Championships title with a double-overtime triumph against SPU in last year’s final. “It was a good team performance,” said Seattle Pacific head coach Kevin Sakuda. “They asked a lot of questions of us in terms of set pieces and dealing with long throws, and our guys were great. The back line, Will – they dealt with some really difficult situations, and overall we played well. We had some great chances and made plays when it counted. Winning big tournament games is about winning your boxes, and I thought today was a good example of that.”
 
Saturday’s championship game will pit the league’s top-two performing sides against one another, with the Wolves winning the regular-season title on 23 points from a 7-1-2 league record and the Falcons finishing just one point behind on a 7-2-1 conference slate.
 
While SPU maintained the upper hand throughout the match, Simon Fraser did not go without chances. Falcon goalkeeper Willem Ficek came away with six important saves during the contest, regularly denying an SFU side that looked dangerous in various spells throughout the match. Defender Kasey Toevs was often on the winning end of aerial ball challenges and GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Victor Cabanas was similarly impressive keeping the SPU back line coordinated. “We knew they were a good team with quality players, and they like to play pretty direct,” Toevs said. “As one of the taller guys on the back line I knew I had to step up with the headers.”
 
A well-timed substitution by the Falcons preceded the game’s first goal, as Sabari had barely seen 60 seconds on the pitch before his game-winning finish. He raced into the box with the ball on fresh legs, and had an initial cross denied before rocketing a right-footed shot inside the far post from a tricky, tight angle near the edge of the six-yard box. “Originally I was trying to cross it with my left foot, but after the defender blocked it I kind of just thought, ‘why not?’,” Sabari said of his goal. “A lot of it comes from watching Rafa (Lucio) – how he can find spaces. When I come in I try to find spaces and go from there.”
 
The boost got the Falcons to halftime with the advantage, and they doubled their tally shortly after the intermission. A long ball played over the back line off the foot of Toevs created the chance, which was aided by a misjudgment by SFU defensively. Goalkeeper Harrison Gough got caught in between as he came off his line in an attempted clearance, with the ball being played over his head and on to Guzman with nothing but an open net in front of him. He managed to keep his finish on frame with SFU defenders breathing down his neck, supplying a comforting insurance goal. “We talked at halftime about how we knew they would probably try to press, and if we got some uneven numbers in the back we could go a little more vertical,” Sakuda said. “Kasey plays a great ball and JP is great in terms of reading the game and anticipating things. It was a great finish in front of goal.”
 
 
SFU placed six of its 16 shots on target but was unable to get on the scoreboard and mount a comeback in its championship tournament debut. Senior captain Koji Poon led his team with four shots including three on target, while Kundalini Dominique also had three chances including perhaps his side’s most dangerous attempt which fizzed just wide of the post. SFU’s season came to a close with a record of 7-6-5.
 
“The guys were great,” said Sakuda. “They battled, and Kasey was fantastic in terms of winning balls. We also did a good job in managing some of the transitional moments where they were able to run downhill at us. We got behind the ball, got organized and cleaned it up. Overall I am super pleased with the performance.
 
GAME NOTES: SPU picked up its second win of the season against SFU, after a 3-1 triumph on Oct. 15 in Seattle and a 1-1 tie on Oct. 1 in Burnaby, B.C….the Falcons are now 2-1 all-time in conference tournament matches…SPU is in pursuit of its 38th NCAA Championships berth and second in-a-row.