• Schultz Named GNAC Player of the Week (Oct. 24)

SEATTLE – He brought talent. He brought skill. He brought a multi-faceted game which he usually used to set up teammates for a goal – although he also could score them himself.
 
But by his own admission, there was one intangible item Tyler Schultz didn't have when he arrived at Seattle Pacific as a quiet freshman from Arizona for the start of men's soccer practice late in the summer of 2008:
 
Passion for the game.
 
 “I wasn't really sure or really passionate about soccer until I came here,” the 21-year-old forward said. “It was more something that I've always just been doing.
 
“But when I got here, it exploded and it became something that I loved doing instead of something I just did because I had been doing it forever.”
 
Seattle Pacific's opponents – especially during this, his senior season – might be wishing that passion had stayed in hiding. That's because no team in a different-colored uniform can seem to hide from Schultz, whose 13 goals and three assists have helped put the team on the brink of its first NCAA Division II tournament berth since 2006.
 
The Falcons, at 11-2-2, ranked No. 20 nationally and No. 1 in the West Region, are getting ready for Thursday's Great Northwest Athletic Conference showdown against first-place Simon Fraser at Interbay Stadium. SPU (5-1-1—16 points GNAC) and the Clan (7-0-0—21 points) kick off at 7 p.m.
 
“We knew coming back that Tyler would be a marked man. But we felt like the development in his game this year would allow him to have a good season,” said SPU head coach Mark Collings. “His movement off the ball has gotten a lot better, and he certainly has become a lot better finisher, which has allowed him to score some goals at times where you just don't know how he puts it away.”
 
Including his totals this season, Schultz, who hails from Scottsdale, now has put it away 35 times in his four years at Seattle Pacific. Of those, 13 have been game-winners (including six this season). He has earned the assist on eight other goals in his career.
 
His 13 goals in 2011 leads the GNAC and is tied for No. 4 in Division II. On Monday, he was named the GNAC Player of the Week after logging four goals and one assist in two victories last week.
 
“It's my senior year, and I guess I wanted to go out with a bang,” the soft-spoken Schultz said. “The team has been really helpful and supportive. They've definitely made it easier for all of us forwards to put the ball in the net.”
 
FILLING SOME BIG HOLES
Actually, “all of us forwards” is somewhat of an exaggeration. Before the first whistle of the season, the Falcons found themselves down by two veteran forwards when senior Elliot Morton (five goals in 2010, eight for his career) and sophomore Blaine Carver (eight goals last season) were sidelined with injuries.
 
Another one – Kyle Peterman, who transferred from Seattle University after tallying three goals for the Redhawks last fall – also was out.
 
All of a sudden, that was 16 goals that somehow needed replacing, although Carver now is back in action.
 
“When it happened with Elliot (on the first day of practice), you're in shock,” Schultz said. “Then another one went down, and another one. We've had to make our way past it as we go. But we've done a good job, and the coaches have done a great job.”

Schultz undeniably has played a role. But it didn't happen right away, as the Falcons started out 0-1-1 and went scoreless until late in a 3-1 home loss to Notre Dame de Namur.
 
Finally in the next game, Schultz converted a penalty kick in the 14^th minute of a 2-1 victory against highly regarded Metro State of Denver at Interbay Stadium. That first goal of the year for him started a run of contributing at least a goal or an assist – often more – in nine of 13 games.
 
In just the past three games – all SPU victories by a combined score of 10-0 – Schultz has five goals and one assist.
 
“He obviously knew he had to fill in the gaps, and he was certainly ready and willing to take on that challenge,” Collings said. “Early on, I think he was trying to figure out exactly what shouldering the load for the team meant. We had a conversation and just talked about simplifying things a little bit and going back to what his strengths are, which are is work rate and athleticism, and just putting himself in position to utilize those strengths.
 
“He has done a fantastic job of that the last several games.”
 
EVOLVING ROLE
Schultz was more the set-up guy during high school and in club play. Even upon arriving at SPU, he didn't envision himself as a big goal scorer.
 
“I was never used to it before college. It just kind of played out that way as I came here,” Schultz said. “I didn't know what it would be like. I was just coming in and I wanted to contribute and just play soccer.”
 
If there was any kind early indication of how his career would develop, Schultz remembers a game against Northwest Nazarene on Sept. 27, 2008. It was part of SPU's freshman orientation activities, and a near-capacity crowd of 877 – including a large student rooting section – packed Interbay Stadium. Schultz scored midway through the second half as the Falcons won, 2-0.
 
“I lived in Hill Hall, and a bunch of people in my dorm painted their bodies to support me – and I hardly even knew them,” Schultz recalled. “They all wrote 'goal' on the back of their bodies. It was awesome.”
 
That was Schultz' second career goal. Now, 33 goals later, he still can be that set-up guy.
 
Most of the time, though, he's the go-to guy.
 
“He's doing all this even with teams keying on him and being aware of him,” Collings said. “The biggest thing is he has been very opportunistic. Tyler finished the chances that he has been getting, and even the stuff he hasn't scored, he has created well for us.”
 
Schultz is a music major with a 3.5 grade-point average. He would like to get into the technological or studio side of that business.
 
But he'd also like to keep his talented feet in the soccer business, whether it's coaching in some capacity, or even continuing to play. In fact, he knows he wants to stay in the game – now that he has found the one intangible item that he didn't have four years ago.
 
“From the beginning, the coaches saw something in me and they wanted me to succeed,” he said. “They've been more than helpful with increasing my love of the game. They have a passion. I saw their passion for the game, and it basically has rubbed off on me a little bit.”
 
That passion isn't about to go back into hiding.
 
And for Seattle Pacific's opponents, that means there's no hiding from Tyler Schultz.