Fresno, CA - The No. 5 seeded Simon Fraser University Clan advanced to its ninth Semifinal thanks to a 1-0 shutout of No. 4 seed Embry-Riddle (Fla.) in the first Quarterfinal of the NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship on Wednesday at Ramirez Field. The Clan will now play at 2 p.m. PST on Friday against the winner of No. 1 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) and Martin Methodist (Tenn.).

"Obviously we are ecstatic to be moving on to the semis, I'm very proud of our guys," said SFU head coach Alan Koch. "It was not one of our best performances of the year, but yet it's one of our greatest because we did come up with a win. Our keeper Hide Ozawa (Victoria, B.C.) and our back four were just fantastic today to get the result."

The SFU offense put together enough of a strike to prevail, but it was the Clan defense that was the bright spot. Led by keeper Ozawa, who had three saves, the Clan defense turned back 11 Embry-Riddle shots.

Max Baessato (Rome, Italy) was credited with his second goal of the year, coming in the tenth minute. He took a feed from Gary Badesha (Surrey, B.C.) and beat goalie Viktor Bergstrand. The goal was Baessato?s first marker since the season opener against Warner Pacific (Ore.) on Aug. 20.

The Eagles kept up the pressure in the second half with six total shots trying to tie the score at 1-1. The Clan (20-3-0) however held the 1-0 edge and advance to their second Semifinal in the last three years.

Embry-Riddle ends its season with a 13-4-4 record..

NOTES: Simon Fraser has now recorded seven straight shutouts and a total of 12 this year? With 40 total wins in Championship play, Simon Fraser is second-all-time trailing Quincy (Ill.) by one for the most in that category… During its current shutout streak of seven matches, the Clan has out-scored their opposition 11-0… Simon Fraser is trying to snap a three-game losing streak in the Semifinals ? the last win was against Rockhurst (Mo.) in 1987… Embry-Riddle falls to 4-6-1 in Championship play and are now 0-3 in Semifinal action.