Men’s Soccer Earns First Victory at Western Washington in Double Overtime, 2-1

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – For the first time in nine tries, the Montana State Billings men’s soccer team earned a hard-fought, double overtime victory at Western Washington Thursday evening, 2-1.  With the win, the Yellowjackets improved to 6-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  Western Washington fell to 3-6 overall and 0-1 in conference play.  It was just the second win in the series for the Yellowjackets in 12 games all-time. 

“This was our best performance of the year,” head coach Dan McNally said.  “We played great for the first 88 minutes, but fell asleep and let Western Washington back in the game.  In overtime, we worked really hard and found a way to win.  This is a great conference victory against a good Western Washington team.”

In the 106th minute, MSUB’s Chris Andre scored the game winner off an assist from Zach Yeager as he had a breakthrough on the right side for the score past WWU goalkeeper Cameron Copps-Tilley.  It was Andre’s first goal of the season and first MSUB career assist for Yeager.

The Yellowjackets didn’t waste much time getting on the scoreboard as Jeremy DeHerrera took a cross from Sam Charles and first to the lower right corner for the first goal just 2:53 into the contest.  It was DeHerrera’s second goal of the year.

The game remained 1-0 at halftime in favor of the Yellowjackets as MSUB had three shots in the half, while the Vikings had eight.  MSUB goalkeeper, Matt Mitchell, made three first half saves.   MSUB held a 1-0 lead in corner kicks, too.

WWU’s leading scorer, Kellen Brown, tallied his fifth goal of the season in at the 88:15 mark to equalize the game off an assist from Tyler Bjork.  Brown lifted the ball over Mitchell for the equalizer. 

For the game, the Yellowjackets were led by two shots, one on goal and the game winner from Andre.  Senior defender, Tom Milroy, had two shots as well.  DeHerrera had one shot on goal and the first goal.  Charles, was held in check much of the night as he didn’t get a shot all evening.

Despite his GNAC-record string of nine consecutive games with a goal snapped, Charles kept intact his GNAC-record 12th game with a point dating back to last season.

WWU, who dropped its third straight and fifth of six, outshot the Yellowjackets 19-6, but Mitchell came up with six key saves, including three in the second half and overtime to preserve the victory.  Oscar Jimenez led the way with five shots and three on goal.  Bjork was second in shots with four.

The Yellowjackets finish the weekend road trip at Saint Martin’s on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. pacific time.  MSUB returns home for a key conference matchup with Northwest Nazarene a week from Saturday (Oct. 3) at 3:30 p.m. on Futbol Frenzy Day at Yellowjacket Field. 

This season ALL MSUB men’s and women’s soccer matches will be FREE on the internet with live video and audio as the voice of the Yellowjackets, Ken Adelblue, will have the call.