TUMWATER, Wash. –
Luca Battistotti broke the Montana State University Billings men's soccer career games played record on Saturday afternoon at Black Hills High School, but host Saint Martin's University scored a 93rd-minute golden goal to beat the Yellowjackets 2-1 in the final game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season.
Arjun Gill punched home a cross from Jose Marquez, making his first and only goal of the season count as the winner just over two minutes into the extra period. "Credit to SMU for getting the win, and they wanted it more than us today," said MSUB head coach
Thomas Chameraud. "Nothing is given in the GNAC, and there are some principles in football that you need to respect in order to win games. This week away from Billings has shown us that we have a ways to go as a team to compete at the highest level consistently."
MSUB fell to 4-9-3 overall and finished the year 2-6-2 in GNAC play to take sixth place. Battistotti played his 73rd and final match in an MSUB uniform, breaking a three-way tie with Greg McKeever (2004-07) and Chris Andre (2007-10) for most-ever matches in a Yellowjacket uniform.
MSUB Men's Soccer Career Games Played Leaders (as of Nov. 13, 2021)
| Rank |
Player |
Games |
Career |
| 1 |
Luca Battistotti |
73 |
2017-21 |
| 2 |
Greg McKeever |
72 |
2004-07 |
|
Chris Andre |
72 |
2007-10 |
| 4 |
Brian Huskey |
71 |
2005-08 |
| 5 |
Sam Charles |
70 |
2006-09 |
|
Cameron Lee |
70 |
2012-15 |
| 7 |
Jess Spann |
69 |
2002-05 |
|
Joshua Hernandez |
69 |
2004-07 |
|
Kyle Emerick |
69 |
2011-14 |
| 10 |
Dave Austin |
68 |
1997-01 |
Playing in the final match of his career, senior
Paul Cuevas supplied MSUB's lone goal with his 31st minute strike on an assist from Mathias Kjølner. It was the lone finish of the game for the 'Jackets however, who were out-shot 18-15 and placed four strikes on target compared to SMU's six on frame attempts.
Jason Fairhurst scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season just three minutes before halftime, as the Saints (4-13, 3-7 GNAC) rallied to even the score before heading into the locker rooms. Fairhurst's goal came on an assist by Brian Licona.
The Yellowjackets got off to a strong start, and had a prime scoring chance just over two minutes into the game. It took a big save from SMU goalkeeper Hunter Askland to deny a close shot by Yellowjacket striker
Halil Yilmaz.
Tybalt Thornberry played a key role in the team's early attack, moving the ball well and creating the near miss by Yilmaz in the goal box.
Yilmaz had two more attempts over the next 10 minutes of play, both of which missed wide as the game stayed scoreless early on. SMU found its bearings after the opening 15 minutes, with shots from Cole Mattson, Diego Andrade, Licona, and Jose Marquez missing wide all in the span of three minutes.
The second half yielded few pure scoring chances, as both teams struggled to gain traction offensively on the turf. MSUB goalkeeper
Connor Trapp made all four of his saves in the second half, while Askland was not required to make a stop as MSUB couldn't manage an attempt on target leading up to the overtime period.
Yilmaz led all players in the game with six shots including one on target, while Gill, Fairhurst, Andrade, and Marquez had three apiece for the hosts.
Pascal Pisarek turned in a rock steady effort in the full 92 minutes on the pitch, while Battistotti was joined by
Bryan Maxwell on the back line for the entire match and
Jacob Holtz and Kjølner each played the full time as well.
THE BUZZ: Pisarek was selected as the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Day…the teams split the season series 1-1 after MSUB topped Saint Martin's 3-0 when the teams met in Billings on Oct. 7…MSUB is now 15-11-2 all-time against SMU and is 6-7-1 in games played in Washington.
