TACOMA, Wash.— Lewis & Clark College men's soccer battled two-time defending Northwest Conference champion Pacific Lutheran University for more than an hour on Sunday, but the Lutes struck three times in the final 30 minutes to secure a 3-0 win at East Field.
THE BASICS
Pacific Lutheran 3, Lewis & Clark 0
(Lewis & Clark 0-5-1, 0-2-0 NWC)
(Pacific Lutheran 3-3-0, 2-0-0 NWC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Junior goalkeeper
Micaiah Garan turned in a career performance, stopping 13 shots while facing a career-high 39 attempts. He made eight first-half saves to keep the game scoreless at halftime and added five more after the break to anchor the Pioneers' defense.
Lewis & Clark finished with five shots, including three on goal. Junior
Dylan Weinstein nearly put the Pioneers on the board early with a header off a corner from sophomore
Aleister Alfstad, but goalkeeper Chris Jamrok made the stop. In the 29th minute, senior
Aashir Walson beat his defender and forced Jamrok into another save with a left-footed shot to the near post. Sophomore defender
Sam Gunderson came close to an equalizer in the 67th minute when his strike was turned away.
Pacific Lutheran finally broke through in the 61st minute when Quinn Bieber finished a pass from Connor O'Brien into the far post. The Lutes doubled their lead in the 85th minute, with Ty Brunner driving home a low shot off Bieber's assist. Less than four minutes later, Misha Turchaninov converted a penalty kick to cap the scoring.
Defensively, the Pioneers stayed organized despite Pacific Lutheran's pressure, holding the Lutes to a single goal until the closing minutes. Sophomore center back
Talen Haywood, Alfstad, and juniors
Emmett Olson and
Owen Carroll all played the full 90 minutes to anchor the back line.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Garan's 13 saves were the most by a Pioneer since Ben Tallent recorded 15 on Oct. 28, 2022, against Whitworth.
- Sophomore Brandon Paynter and Garan joined Haywood, Alfsad, Olson and Carroll in playing the full 90.
- Pacific Lutheran's 39 shots were the most by a Pioneer opponent since the program returned in 2022.
- Sophomore Alex Woods earned his first career NWC start.
- Lewis & Clark had one corner kick, compared to 11 for the Lutes.
WHO'S NEXT
Lewis & Clark returns home for its Northwest Conference opener at Griswold Stadium on Saturday, hosting George Fox University at 2:45 p.m.