NEWBERG, Ore. – Still hopeful of repeating as Northwest Conference men's soccer champions, the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes won a crucial 3-0 victory over the George Fox University Bruins Sunday afternoon here at the rain-drenched Austin Sports Complex, but lost out on the crown when Whitworth University clinched later in the day.

The win for the Lutes improved their record to 10-6-2 overall and 9-3-1 in the conference, but they lost all hope of catching Whitworth when the Pirates won 1-0 over Linfield College in a game that was delayed by rain and then moved to McMinnville High School.  The Bruins fell to 2-15-1 overall and 2-11 in the league.

PLU struck seven-and-a-half minutes into the game when Paul Boscole sent a short cross from the left to Shane Gutierrez just inside the left side of the penalty box.  Gutierrez turned and rifled a shot toward the goal that hit the wet artificial surface just in front of Bruin keeper Elliott Davis and skipped off the turf over Davis and into the right corner of the net.  It was Gutierrez' second goal of the year.

The Lutes were in control virtually all game, out-shooting the Bruins 22-2 overall and 11-1 in shots on goal and getting 12 corner kick chances to two for the Bruins, but could not capitalize again on their opportunities until there were 20 minutes left in the game.  PLU finally got some breathing room when Gutierrez sent a corner kick from the left toward the far post, where Kevin Wien headed the ball back toward the near post for Derek Johnson, who put the ball inside the post for his ninth goal of the season.

PLU wrapped up the scoring in the 83rd minute when Bryan Anderson executed a well-placed cross from the left to the middle for Brian Lefavour, who nailed a straight-on shot for his first goal of the season.

Joe Rayburn got the win in goal for the Lutes with one save in 74 minutes of work, with Mike Arguello mopping up.  Davis ran his league-leading saves total to 82 with eight more saves in 83 minutes, while Arlo Powell took over for the final seven minutes. 

It was the final home game of the season for George Fox, which recognized its eight graduating senior players in ceremonies at halftime: Conor Ike, Andrew Van der Werff, Joseph Byrnes, Gustavo Moreno-Vela, Andrew Vasilauskas, Kane Ransom, Sean Jany, and Davis.

NEXT: George Fox closes its season Friday with a night game at 7:00 p.m. at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore. ... Pacific Lutheran finishes the regular season Saturday at the cross-town rival University of Puget Sound at 2:30 p.m.