 |  |
Oct. 26, 2008
Whitman's Early Goal Enough to Beat Lutes
PARKLAND - For the second time on consecutive Sundays, Pacific Lutheran gave up an early goal and it cost them.
A week ago, the visiting Pacific Boxers scored in the eighth minute and held on for a 1-0 Northwest Conference men's soccer victory over the Lutes. This time, Steven Phillips scored at 7:26 to give the visiting Whitman Missionaries a 1-0 triumph over PLU.
Phillips was in the right place to score his sixth goal of the season after Pacific Lutheran keeper Daniel Mangum dove to push aside a cross from Todd Wallenius. The ball rolled to Phillips, who made no mistake in putting the ball into the net. On the other end of the field, Whitman keeper Brett Axelrod came up with his seventh shutout of the season and his second against the Lutes.
The win kept the Missionaries within two points of conference-leading Whitworth, which defeated Puget Sound on Sunday afternoon. Both Whitman and Whitworth have three conference matches remaining on their schedules.
Pacific Lutheran appeared to tie the game with about 18 minutes remaining when Mangum, who moved to a forward position in the second half, drove a header past Axelrod. The goal was disallowed, however, on an offside call.
The Lutes (6-8-2 overall, 4-5-2 NWC) finished the match with 13 shots, forcing Axelrod to make six saves. The Missionaries (9-2-6, 7-2-2) ended up with nine shots, forcing three saves from Mangum and one more from reserve keeper Brian Kostol. Whitman had a 5-4 advantage in corner kicks.
- PLU -
