BURNABY, B.C. – A goal in the opening four minutes of play Thursday night at Terry Fox Field proved to be enough to lift host Simon Fraser University to a 1-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team.
 
Justus Meier scored just over three minutes into the game, and SFU completed its fifth shutout of the season by keeping the Yellowjackets out of the net. SFU improved to 5-5 on the season and is now 2-2 in conference play, while the Yellowjackets slipped to 3-6-1 overall and are 1-3 in league games with the defeat.
 
Meier struck early on, receiving the ball near midfield and embarking on a blistering run down the right side before cutting back towards the goal box. The forward curled a left-footed strike into the upper-right corner of the net from the top of the box, leaving MSUB goalkeeper Georgios Theodoulidis no chance to reach up and make a save.
 
MSUB's first big scoring chance of the night came in the 22nd minute, with the ball pushing forward into the right corner. Jeremie Briquet received a quick pass inside the six-yard box, but his attempt was pushed high over the crossbar as Simon Fraser dodged a bullet.
 
Pascal Pisarek, who turned in a solid 76 minutes on the back line, had his first big intervention of the night 11 minutes before the halftime break. The senior outside back cut across the goal box to get his foot on a charging SFU player, and he was the last line of defense before what would have been a clear shot on target.
 
Halil Yilmaz had one of his game-high five shots on the ensuing shift of play down the field, heading an on-target strike towards the lower-right corner of the net. SFU goalkeeper Aidan Bain laid out however and knocked the strike away to keep the lead in the hands of the hosts. Bain had another crucial stop inside of one minute in the first half, leaping up to push away a strong strike from Yilmaz and get his team into the break up 1-0.
 
The Yellowjackets kept the pressure on to start the second half, with three shots in the opening five minutes. The MSUB defensive wall did its job 10 minutes into the second half, as a 22-yard free-kick strike by Connor Glennon was deflected out of play before Theodoulidis needed to make a save.
 
Aside from saves on shots by Mathias Kjølner and Yilmaz, Bain was rarely troubled over the next 20 minutes of play as the Yellowjackets' time ran low. The SFU shot stopper had one final key moment, jumping up to tip a close-range header shot by Yilmaz over the crossbar at the 80-minute mark. The Yellowjackets won a pair of corner kicks over the final 10 minutes, but couldn't generate a serious threat towards goal for a chance to equalize.
 
Bain had a season-high nine saves to earn the clean sheet, while SFU's back line of Simone Masi, Owen McBride, and Niko Papakyriakopoulos each played the full 90 minutes. Glennon led SFU with three shots, and the hosts won despite being out-shot 14-11 overall and landing just four strikes on frame.
 
Theodoulidis finished with three saves in goal for MSUB, while Bryan Maxwell, Luca Battistotti, and Kjølner played the full 90 minutes defensively.
 
THE BUZZ: Yilmaz was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…MSUB is now 1-22-4 all-time against SFU and is 0-12-2 in matches played in Burnaby.
 
NEXT UP: The Yellowjackets cross the border on Saturday and take on Western Washington University with another 7 p.m. Pacific/8 p.m. Mountain kickoff in Bellingham, Wash. Live video will be available online here and live statistics will be available online here.