PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's soccer is looking to build off their most successful non-conference slate to date, when they kick off their Northwest Conference schedule on Saturday in Tacoma.
NORTHWEST CONFERENCE COACHES' PRESEASON POLL
Lewis & Clark received eight points in the NWC Coaches' Poll to finish in ninth place. Two-time defending NWC Champions Pacific Lutheran University were tabbed the preseason favorites. The Lutes earned eight of the nine first-place votes and grabbed 64 total points. Whitworth University (50 points), Whitman College (49 points, one first-place vote) and George Fox University (45 points) rounded out the top-four.
NON-CONFERENCE ROUND-UP
Lewis & Clark earned their second result since returning to varsity status on Saturday, September 6, when they earned a 2-2 home tie against Northwest University (WA). Sophomore
Sam London (penalty kick) and junior
Dylan Weinstein scored in a 25-minute span of the first half against the Eagles to give the Pioneers 1-0 and 2-1 leads. Senior
Declan Cloutier (two saves) and junior
Keahi Meredith each played a half in the contest.
The Pioneers wrapped up non-conference play 0-3-1 in countable contests and have played eight games overall. They earned a pair of wins in scrimmages in Iceland and took on NCAA DI University of Portland to start the year. Through their four regular-season games, Lewis & Clark has held two opponents to two goals and given up 3.00 goals per game overall.
KEY PLAYERS
Lewis & Clark returns all seven players who recorded a point from a year ago and three of the team's four goalies.
Senior midfielder
Ishan Abraham led the Pioneers with two goals scored and four points in 2024. London and Weinstein each added three points apiece (one goal and one assist). Senior forward
Ben Schwartz, senior midfielder
Aashir Walson and junior winger
Zidane Indarta each scored one goal last Fall. Schwartz ranks second in program history with his three goals scored.
Defensively, Lewis & Clark returns the majority of their top players in the back line from a year ago. Juniors
Emmett Olson (1,448) and
Owen Carroll (1,174) and sophomores
Talen Haywood (1,119) and
Sam Gunderson (1,052) all played more than 1,000 minutes last year. In net, junior
Micaiah Garan returns after setting single-season records with 69 saves and a 2.89 goals against average last fall. Cloutier and Meredith are both fighting to earn minutes after solid preseasons to start the 2025 season.
Head coach Frasier Morrison is in his first year leading the program, after serving as the team's lead assistant the past three years.
Jim Tursi, who served as head coach for the past three seasons, has shifted over to the Director of Soccer for the 2025 campaign.
THREE THINGS TO WATCH
1. The Pioneers are still searching for their first countable victory/Northwest Conference win. Over the past three seasons against conference competition, they have earned one tie (George Fox University, October 25, 2023), played five opponents to one-goal games and played 15 games that resulted in two-goal losses. Men's Soccer will play each conference foe twice this season, once at home and once on the road. Lewis & Clark has played Pacific University, who was selected to finish seventh in the conference, to a 1-0 loss in each of the past three seasons. The Pioneers will look to flip the script and defeat the Boxers, when they play on Saturday, September 28 (home) and Friday, October 24 (road).
2. Garan is set to become the first Pioneers goalie to reach several milestones. He is just 153 minutes and 14 seconds away from reaching 2,000 career minutes in net. Garan is also five saves away from tying
Ben Tallent ('25) for the program record for career saves (126).
3. The first incoming recruiting class since the program was reinstated will graduate this Fall. Eight members of the first varsity team since 1991 will finish up their careers as part of a nine-player class. The eight seniors all committed to a new program as high schoolers and have made a huge impact over the past four seasons.
