Box
Score
NEWBERG, Ore. - Goalkeeper Kyle Putnam led a sterling George Fox
University defensive effort with eight saves and the offense scored
two goals against a team that had only allowed four all season,
giving the Bruins a stunning 2-0 victory over the newly-crowned
Northwest Conference men's soccer champion University of Puget
Sound Loggers in a rain-soaked game Saturday afternoon here at
Morse Field.
Putnam and the George Fox defense faced 20 shots by the Loggers,
the highest-scoring team in the conference with an average of 1.94
goals per game, and turned back every effort. The UPS defense only
allowed George Fox eight shots in all and only three on goal, but
the Bruin offense proved to be highly efficient, scoring on two of
them.
The Bruins' first score came at 26:57 in the first half. Dan
Potter sent a cross from the right wing just outside the keeper's
box to Erich Hangartner streaking in from the left, and Hangartner
nailed a shot from 15 yards out into the right corner of the net
for a 1-0 lead. It was Hangartner's second goal of the season and
the fifth assist for Potter.
George Fox nursed that lead until the waning stages of the game.
With Puget Sound pushing everyone forward in an effort to tie the
game, Logger keeper Pete Van Sant found himself 10 yards in front
of the keeper's box with a loose ball he needed to clear. Bruin
forward Matt Gurlides charged the keeper and blocked Van Sant's
kick directly back toward the goal, then raced around him and sent
an uncontested ball into the wide-open net for his eighth goal of
the season, effectively icing the win.
The Bruins end their season with an 8-9-2 overall record and a
4-9-1 mark in the conference. The 17th-ranked Loggers, who had
clinched the conference championship and an automatic bid to the
NCAA Division III National Tournament with a 1-0 win at Pacific
University the day before, are now 13-2-2 overall and 10-2-2 in the
NWC. The Loggers will find out who they play and where their
first-round game will be when the tournament field is announced
Sunday.
