BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Without surrendering a shot on goal, No. 19 ranked Western Washington slid past Montana State University Billings 1-0 in men's soccer Saturday night at Harrington Field in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game.
 
Jeremiah Lee scored the only goal on the contest in the 55^th minute after he volleyed in a corner kick by Georg Cholewa and the Yellowjackets never recovered. With the win, the Vikings cemented their achievement as the GNAC men's soccer champions and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA West Region tournament. MSU Billings (8-8-2, 5-5-1 GNAC) fell 1-0 for the second straight game. The team returns to Billings to finish out the fall on Thursday, November 14 against Seattle Pacific at Yellowjacket Field.
 
"First of all, I want to congratulate WWU on winning the GNAC," said MSUB head coach Thomas Chameraud. "It was a well deserved title and they have been solid during the entire season. Tonight, we came out flat and our opponent took advantage and played well given what was at stake. Jessy (Martin) bailed us out several times and without him, we could have been down two goals at halftime."
 
The Vikings peppered Martin with 11 shot attempts in the first half but Martin proved up for the task. Martin took the loss for MSUB in goal, despite his admirable performance.
 
"I really liked the reaction from our players after the break," continued Chameraud. "We settled our play, were patient, and tried to find spaces between the lines. We conceded another goal off a corner kick, which has been our Achilles heal this season but even playing a man short after 60 minutes, we continued to play hard to get try for the equalizer."
 
Bryan Maxwell was issued a red card in the 60^th minute of the match for MSUB. Fouls favored WWU 18-11. Shantik Bedrosian and Theo Lamare attempted two shots apiece for the 'Jackets. Christian Rotter led the Western Washington offense with three shots on goal. Brandon Locke earned a clean sheet but made zero saves through 90 minutes.
 
The Yellowjackets have lost three games in a row but won each of the previous two. The team is 4-3-1 at home this season with one game remaining against Seattle Pacific.
 
"Our last game of the season is coming up against SPU, a team on the rise," said Chameraud. "We'll have to prepare for that game well in order to finish the season on a good note for all of us, most of all our three seniors, Liam (Knox), Nacho (Crespo), and Christian (Thode).
 
THE BUZZ: Freshman goalkeeper Jessy Martin was named St. Vincent Player of the game for MSUB…The 'Jackets are already one win ahead of their finish in 2018, both in the conference games and overall.