PORTLAND, Ore.—Pacific University struck for two goals in a span of less than five minutes late in the first half, to break open a 0-0 draw and ultimately earn a 3-0 win over Lewis & Clark College men's soccer on Saturday afternoon at Griswold Stadium.Â
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THE BASICS
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Pacific 3, Lewis & Clark 0Â
(Lewis & Clark 0-11, Northwest Conference 0-7)Â
(Pacific 6-6-1, NWC 4-4-1)Â
HOW IT HAPPENED
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Lewis & Clark came out and played composed soccer and generated the best chance of the opening 30 minutes for either team. Unfortunately, the Boxers back-to-back quick strikes proved to be too much for Lewis & Clark in their return to Griswold Stadium.Â
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Sophomore keeper
Micaiah Garan made a career-high 10 saves in the contest. He posted eight of his 10 stops in the second half, including several diving saves while coming off his line.Â
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The Pioneers generated their best chance of the game in the 17
th minute. Men's Soccer worked their way up the field with a slew of passes on the turf to feet and eventually found junior
Aashir Walson in space on the left sideline. Walson drove towards the goal line and sent a cross back towards the top of the six. Fellow junior
Ben Schwartz beat his defender to the ball and got his left foot on the cross but his shot went off the hands of Pacific's keeper and deflected off the crossbar and back out to keep the game tied at 0-0.Â
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Pacific took the lead in the 35
th minute on some strong passing of their own. Gregory Wheeler slipped a pass into the box for Donovan Jaramillo and he cut it back to a wide-open Aidan Hefflin for an easy tap-in from less than two yards out.Â
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The Boxers put the game away with a pair of corner kick goals. Just 4:16 after their opening tally, Pacific made it 2-0 when Brodie Buchert's corner was headed in by Garrett Heuett from inside the six-yard box.Â
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After a relatively quiet second half that saw the Boxers dominate the shots but fail to get on the scoreboard, Pacific added a third goal in the at 87:59. This time it was Noah Bjornson heading home Mateo Pirz's cross on a point-blank header.Â
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BY THE NUMBERS
- Pacific outshot Lewis & Clark 17-6 and held a 13-4 edge in shots on goal.Â
- Garan's 10 saves eclipsed his previous career-high by three. He's the second goalie in program history to post double-digit saves and it's the first instance since junior Ben Tallent made recorded 10 saves in last year's regular-season finale against Whitworth.Â
- Schwartz led the team with two shots (one shot on goal). Emmet McDonough, Daniel Estoll and Aidan McPheeters all added shots on target.Â
- First year Talen Haywood played 81 minutes along the back line. He led the Pioneers field players in minutes on Saturday.\
WHO'S NEXTÂ
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Lewis & Clark will close out the first half of their conference season on Sunday, when they travel to take on George Fox University.Â
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