BILLINGS, Mont. – A second half that belonged to the Montana State University Billings men's soccer team wasn't quite enough to overcome a first half that belonged to visiting Simon Fraser University, as the Red Leafs emerged with a 2-1 victory in the opening game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season.
 
SFU dominated the run of play over the first 45 minutes, and carried a 2-0 halftime advantage into the break. Callum Bryan's second goal of the season, coming in the 60th minute, ignited a fierce comeback effort by the Yellowjackets who nearly equalized on multiple occasions and put SFU on its heels for the final 30 minutes.
 
The Red Leafs (4-2, 1-0 GNAC) escaped with three points however, doing just enough to keep the Yellowjackets out of the net in a frantic finish. "It's a tough result today for the guys, and really was a tale of two halves," said MSUB head coach Aaron Champenoy. "Unfortunately we came out on the back foot and didn't play confidently early in the match, which allowed a good Simon Fraser side to capitalize in the 13th minute."
 
Sebastian Sjo netted his first goal of the season 13 minutes into the match, and Devin O'Hea tucked home his third goal in the 20th minute – which proved to be the game-winner.
 
In a match where he was exceptional defensively, Guillermo Gonzalez also contributed on the attack in a comprehensive 90-minute performance on the back line. Jeremie Briquet chipped in his GNAC-leading fourth assist of the season on Bryan's goal, while Kolja Thomas, Bryan Maxwell, and Bjarne Fedkenhauer joined Bryan and Gonzalez in playing the full 90 minutes.
 
SFU came out on the front foot and found itself ahead after good combination play in the midfield led to the first goal. Ali Zohar got his foot on a central pass and fed it through the MSUB back line, where Sjo got free and blasted a low shot into the far post from the left side of the six-yard box.
 
A mistake by the Yellowjackets (2-4, 0-1) put them into a 2-0 deficit, as O'Hea stole the ball inside the goal box and had an easy, wide-open finish past MSUB goalkeeper Jeremi Campagnolo. Although SFU maintained control for the remainder of the first half, the Yellowjackets settled down and prevented any other major scoring opportunities. "We just had a really unfortunate miss touch that resulted in a giveaway and ended in us going down two in the 20th," said Champenoy. "After that we calmed down, made some adjustments, and started fighting for each other. We played really well in the second half, and started controlling the game."
 
MSUB's goal was generated by Gonzalez, who found himself with room on the right side in the defensive third and played a brilliant, long diagonal cross to the foot of Briquet who was waiting on the left wing. From there, the junior beat his man with a pass to Bryan at the top of the box, who curled a well-placed, right-footed strike past SFU goalkeeper Justyn Sandhu and into the upper-right corner of the net.
 
The Yellowjackets used the tally to wrestle away momentum, and kept the pressure on for the rest of the match. A set piece opportunity midway through the second was perhaps MSUB's best chance to equalize, when Valdemar Fogt's lofted cross into the box rattled off the crossbar and fell untouched inside a crowded goal box where SFU was able to make a clearance.
 
"Callum scored a great goal after we had been pressing them," said Champenoy. "With 30 minutes to go we felt confident and were unfortunate not to get an equalizer."
 
Gonzalez ripped a powerful, long strike on target inside of the final five minutes, that required one of the two saves in the match from Sandhu. MSUB pushed all 11 players into the goal box for a corner kick with 30 seconds left, and SFU breathed a sigh of relief when a dangerous cross couldn't find the feet of an open Yellowjacket attacker.
 
Nicolai Placzek, Niko Papakyriakopoulos, and Justus Meier each played the full 90 minutes on the back line to help SFU to the win. Mark Talisuna was a commanding presence for 90 minutes in the central midfield as well for the visitors.
 
"I was proud of our response, but disappointed with the result," Champenoy said. "We will grow from this game and keep getting better."
 
THE BUZZ: Gonzalez was named the St. Vincent Healthcare Player of the Game…Briquet's assist was the eighth of his career at MSUB…MSUB is now 2-23-4 all-time against SFU and is 2-8-2 in home matches.
 
NEXT UP: The Yellowjackets return to the pitch Saturday to host Seattle Pacific University with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff. Live coverage for the match will be available online here.