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Oct. 5, 2008
Karamatic's Free Kicks Nets Lutes 1-0 Win Over Bearcats
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| Derek Karamatic |
PARKLAND, Wash. - Derek Karamatic scored on a 20-yard free kick in the 30th minute as Pacific Lutheran defeated Willamette, 1-0, in a Northwest Conference men's soccer match played Sunday afternoon at the PLU field.
Karamatic lined up his shot from just above the penalty box following a Willamette foul. The senior forward curled the ball around the wall and into the upper right corner of the goal, leaving Bearcats goalkeeper Mark Bennett without a chance at the save.
Until that time, it was Willamette (2-6-1 overall, 1-3-1 conference) that had put the most significant pressure on the host Lutes (4-5-1 overall, 2-2-1 conference). In the first minute alone, PLU goalkeeper Daniel Mangum was forced to make saves of consecutive point-blank shots by Ivan Gutierrez and Erik Kaufman. Again in the 22nd minute, a Casey Dineen's header from a corner kick was cleared off the line by PLU midfielder Surafel Worku. About four minutes later, Mangum again saved a point-blank effort by Kaufman.
For all intents and purposed, the Bearcats could have had at least three goals but for the efforts of Mangum and his scrambling defense. Karamatic then connected on his free kick for his second goal of the season and the Lutes had all of the scoring that they would need.
The Bearcats had one last excellent scoring opportunity and again it was Worku clearing the ball off the line after a deflected corner kick in the 62nd minute.
Pacific Lutheran ended up with a 17-12 shot advantage, including a match-high six efforts by Karamatic, and both keepers came up with four saves. The Lutes had a 10-4 advantage in corner kicks.
The Lutes return to action at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when they host the Puget Sound Loggers in another Northwest Conference match.
- PLU -
