Old rivals await. After spending two weeks in California, the men's soccer schedule calls Seattle Pacific University closer to home for the next month or so, beginning with an 11-day stretch in which they play three longtime rivals. The Falcons (4-2-0) cross the Canadian border Wednesday (Sept. 18) to face Simon Fraser (5-1-0), then get a week off before resuming Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at Western Washington (3-3-1) Sept. 25. Starting with a Sept. 28 date with Chico State (1-3-0), SPU plays eight of its final 11 games at home.

More than meets the eye. There's always a little extra on the line when Seattle Pacific plays its most traditional rivals. For more than 25 years, facing Simon Fraser has meant playing British Columbia's best and the Clan are an established power at the NAIA level, with three national titles. Western Washington, coached by SPU alum Travis Connell, is an up-and-coming program in NCAA Division II, as evidenced by the Vikings' victory over the Falcons last season. Without a doubt, Chico State is the biggest rival from California, with the two teams having met 27 times, including six playoff encounters. SFU, Western and Chico trail only Washington and Seattle University in the number of all-time meetings with the Falcons.

The final countdown. With 534 career wins, Coach Cliff McCrath now needs only 10 more to overtake retired San Francisco coach Steve Negoesco as the all-time collegiate leader. McCrath has guided 33 Falcon teams to 449 wins since 1970. Seattle Pacific was the NCAA champion in 1978, '83, '85, '86 and '93. McCrath's 500th career victory came at Simon Fraser in 2000.Seeing red. It's a rare occasion when an SPU player sees red, as in a red card from the referee. In fact, the Falcons have drawn only two such cards in the previous three seasons. But it's become an all too familiar sight of late, with Mike Pardini (Sr., Pasco, Wa.) being ejected at UC Davis and David Selby (So., Aloha, Or./Southridge-Warner Pacific) getting sent off against Notre Dame de Namur. A consequence was that the Falcons played short for 129 of the last 150 minutes. Pardini will be available for Wednesday's game while Selby will serve his mandatory one-game suspension.

10 men enough. Despite the fact that they had only 10 men on the field, the Falcons more than held their own last week, out-scoring UC Davis and Notre Dame de Namur by a combined 3-1 (not counting the penalty kick resulting from Selby's foul) in those 129 minutes. Grant Falco (Sr., Veradale, Wa./University) scored two goals and Jeremy Yerkes (So., Gresham, Or./Gresham-Tacoma CC) connected on a free kick in the home-opening 3-1 win over NDNU. At Davis, Brent Egbert (Jr., Bellingham, Wa./Sehome) brought shorthanded SPU level only to see the Aggies prevail 2-1 on a goal scored directly from a corner kick. Both of the losses this season have been on the road against nationally-ranked teams; UC Davis was No. 10 and Sonoma State is now No. 9.

Revolving door. Due to the rash of red cards and several injuries, SPU has yet to put its projected starting 11 on the field. And that will not change anytime soon. David Smith (So., Corvallis, Or.), the conference co-leader with five goals, is out indefinitely after fracturing his jaw in the opening minutes of the Notre Dame de Namur game. Earlier, midfielder Ross Vaillancourt (Fr., Bedford, N.H./Manchester West) and Selby missed a combined five games with injuries. One of the top freshman prospects, Andy Willis of Gig Harbor, has opted to sit out this season while recovering from injuries during his prep career. It's likely that Tom Funk (Fr., Orland Park, Il./Sandburg), who's scored two goals and added two assists off the bench, will replace Smith at forward.

Footnotes. Midfielder Michael Brkich (So., Vancouver, B.C./Vienna Christian-Chico State) has interesting ties to two of the next three opponents. He and teammate Cory Janzen (Sr., Langley, B.C./Lynden Christian) are natives of the Vancouver metro area and are well-acquainted with many of the SFU players. Brkich also spent the 2000 season at Chico State before leaving to join the Canadian youth national team program...In this week's regional rankings, Cal State Dominguez Hills is No. 1 and the Falcons eighth, behind Sonoma State, Cal State San Bernardino, UC Davis, UC San Diego and Seattle U...Of Falco's 23 career goals, 16 have been scored at Interbay...The Falcons are 4-0 when scoring first this season.

Opponents & series notes. Although it has come home with wins in last two visits to B.C., Seattle Pacific is still smarting from a 2-1 home loss to Simon Fraser in the final game of 2001, a game in which it out-shot the Clan 19-7 and had a 13-4 advantage in corner kicks. The series stands 19-13-4 in SPU's favor...Western Washington ended a 30-year drought by beating the Falcons 1-0 at Interbay last season on Cody Hagler's goal. This will be the only game played on artificial turf this year. Seattle Pacific leads the series 30-8-2...Chico State was one of only two teams to defeat SPU by more than a goal in 2001. The Wildcats' Chris Wondolowski had a goal and two assists in a 3-1 win. SPU trails that series 14-12-1.

Tickets, please. Tickets for all SPU regular season games are priced $7 for reserved, $5 for general admission, with students and senior citizens $3.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.