No. 20 Simon Fraser Runs Past Boise State to Go 4-1

BURNABY, BC (February 24, 2013) – No. 20 Simon Fraser continued their strong start to the season by downing Boise State 14-6, to improve to 4-1 on the year.

The Clan overwhelmed the Broncos in the midfield with Sam Clare (Ladner, BC/Vancouver College) – 4g, 1a, Alex Bohl (Newmarket, ON/The Hill Academy) – 3g, 1a and Andrew Branting (Duncan, BC/Cowichan Secondary) – 2g, 2a combining for 13 points on the night.

Fraser controlled the game from start to finish, outshooting Boise 60-19 over four quarters and recording 35 groundballs to the Broncos 18. Clan senior Kyle Middleton (Nanaimo, BC/Woodlands Secondary) made his second start of 2013 in net, earning the victory with 5 saves.

Bohl opened the scoring early in the contest, converting a cross-field pass from attackman Eric Ransom (Sherwood Park, AB/Bev Facey HS) to put the Clan up 1-0.

Boise State attackman Karson Fullmer (Clarkston, UT/Sky View HS) then finished a drive from up top to tie the game at 1-1, followed by Clare with his first of the eveing out of a scramble in front of the Bronco net and sophomore attack Ward Spencer (Saskatoon, SK/Evan Hardy Collegiate) off of a strong solo effort from X, to pull the Clan ahead by a score of 3-1. BSU freshman midfielder Adam Smith (Mission Viejo, CA/Tesoro High School) would capitalize on the man-up to draw the Bronco's back to within one and end the quarter at 3-2.

Fraser would continue to pull away in the second, outscoring Boise 3-0 to take a 6-2 lead into the intermission. Clare scored the Clan's fourth goal of the evening on a fast break, with Branting and Spencer adding consecutive goals on the man-up to complete the SFU run.

Looking to spark some offense, Boise State leading scorer Gunnar Guth (Rodando Beach, CA/Rodando Union HS) scored his only goal of the contest to make it 6-3 out of the break but SFU would refuse to open the door, going on another 3-goal run on goals by Ransom and back-to-back goals by Bohl to extend the Clan lead to six at 9-3. BSU's Smith would add one more to close out the third quarter with the Broncos trailing 9-4.

Branting would help carry the Clan offense down the stretch assisting Clare's third goal on the man-up, followed by Smith answering back for the Broncos with his hattrick at even strength and Branting scoring his second with the man advantage to reset the score at 11-5. Branting would then assist Clare on the Clan's third man-up goal of the quarter to push the SFU lead to seven at 12-5.

Special teams would continue to be the theme of the quarter as Boise State freshman midfielder John Neal III (Baltimore, MD/Harford Tech) converted a Bronco extra-man opportunity at 12-6. SFU junior LSM Riley Wanzer would then add another for the Clan shorthanded, followed by freshman Marcus Quon (Vancouver, BC/Kitsilano Secondary) gathering up his own rebound to score the second goal of his young collegiate career and cap a 5-2 quarter for Simon Fraser, ending the PNCLL North/South match-up with a final score of 14-6.

SFU will continue to stay busy early in the season as they host No. 24 Arizona on Terry Fox Field this Friday, March 1 at 1:00 pm. The out of conference game versus the Wildcats will kick-off a challenging month for the Clan, as they spend the next six games on the road versus No. 1 Colorado State (March 9), No. 5 Colorado (March 10), No. 11 Virginia Tech (March 11 @ Colorado), Illinois (March 28), No. 6 Michigan State (March 30) and No. 25 Davenport (March 31).

The Broncos will also continue to test their metal when they host No. 5 Colorado (March 1) and No. 8 Oregon (March 3) next weekend on "The Blue" inside Bronco Stadium.

2013-02-25