NEWBERG, Ore. - Spoiling the final home game of
the season for the George Fox University Bruins, the Pacific
Lutheran University Lutes exploded for six second-half goals to
break open a relatively-tight game and walk off with a 8-1 win in a
Northwest Conference men's soccer match Sunday afternoon here
at the Austin Sports Complex.
The Bruins actually controlled play through the first 30
minutes, manufacturing seven shots to five for the Lutes, who were
coming off a heart-breaking 2-1 double-overtime loss the day before
at Pacific University that had knocked them out of first place in
the conference. However, once the Lutes got rolling, there
was little the Bruins could do to slow them down.
The Lutes got on the board in the 31st minute when Spencer
Augustin took a through ball from Brenden Cohen and beat George Fox
keeper Elliott Davis one-on-one with a score from five yards
out. It was his fourth goal of the season. Augustin
assisted on the second PLU goal three minutes later, feeding Chad
Kearns, the conference's leading scorer, for his 15th goal
from 10 yards out into a net that opened up when Davis came out to
challenge Augustin.
Surafel Wodajo opened things up for PLU early in the second
half, scoring twice in the space of 75 seconds to make it 4-0 in
the 54th minute. His first score came from eight yards out
inside the left post following a through ball from Augustin, and
his second of the game and fifth of the season came on a putback
following a deflected shot by Augustin.
Wodajo assisted on Derek Johnson's first goal of the
season in the 67th minute, and the Lutes scored their final three
goals on breakaways by Mohamed Bouzakraft in the 71st minute,
Johnson again in the 73rd,and Lucas McCallum in the 76th.
Johnson assisted with through balls to Bouzakraft and McCallum, and
Kevin Buck assisted on Johnson's goal.
George Fox salvaged something from the game when the Bruins
finally picked up their first goal at home this season and first on
its new soccer pitch. Joseph Tiede did the honors when he
took a short pass from Isaac Widdicombe just inside the right
corner of the penalty box and hooked it 15 yards into the upper
left corner of the net in the 88th minute.
The Lutes out-shot the Bruins 25-12 overall and 17-4 in shots on
goal, and had a 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Brian Kostol had
three saves for PLU in 55 minutes before Kit Deming finished up
with no saves. Davis made seven stops in 58 minutes for the
Bruins, and Kasey Haugan had two saves in 32 minutes.
A total of 50 players participated in the game, 26 for PLU and
24 for George Fox. Playing their final home game for the
Bruins were seniors Connor Campbell, and David Rickey, who were
honored in pre-game ceremonies for their four-year careers.
PLU remained in the running for the conference title by
improving to 10-7-1 overall and 9-4 in the league. George Fox
fell to 0-14-2 overall and 0-12-1 in the NWC. The Bruins have
now gone a record 19 games in a row, counting their final three
games of the 2009 season, without a win (0-17-2).
NEXT: George Fox ends its season Saturday at
league-leading Pacific, with the game time listed at 1:30 p.m.
instead of the usual 2:30 p.m. ... Pacific Lutheran visits the
University of Puget Sound Saturday at 2:30 p.m., and can still take
the conference with a win if the Bruins can tie or win their game
against the Boxers.