PARKLAND, Wash. - Coming off a 2011 Northwest Conference men's soccer championship and tapped to repeat in 2012, the Pacific Lutheran University Lutes showed why they are the favorite as they exploded for four first-period goals en route to a 5-0 win over the visiting George Fox University Bruins Saturday afternoon here at East Field.

Playing on their new artificially-turfed pitch for the first time after five road games, the Lutes scored four goals in an 18-and-a-half minute span midway through the first period.  Brenden Cohen got PLU going with his first goal of the season at 18:57, sending a shot from 18 yards out on the right into the far side netting, with an assist by Derek Johnson.  The next goal went to Johnson, his third this season, when he followed up his own blocked shot and knocked the ball into an empty net at the 25:16 mark. 

Emmanuel Amarh scored just 11 seconds later when he took a pass from Johnson and scored his third goal of the season.  He added his second of the game and fourth of the season at 31:32, finishing off Tyler Bennett's pass from the right wing and giving the Lutes a 4-0 halftime lead.

The game's final goal came at 54:22 when Giancarlo Santoro notched his second goal of the season from six yards out. With the game secured, the Lutes emptied their bench and played 27 different players.

Despite the lopsided score, the shot totals were close, with PLU holding a 19-15 overall advantage and an 8-7 lead in shots on goal.  Corner kicks were also close, the Lutes owning a 7-6 margin.  Angelo Florez led the Bruins with five shots, two on goal, and Luke Dickens had four shots, three on goal.  Johnson paced PLU with four shots, two on goal.

A trio of PLU keepers combined for the shutout, Joe Rayburn getting the win with two saves in the first half, while Mike Arguello and Sam Watkins shared the second half, Arguello with one save and Watkins with four.  George Fox keeper Elliott Davis had three saves. 

NEXT:  George Fox (0-5-1, NWC 0-1) moves over to the University of Puget Sound (4-1-1, NWC 1-0) Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. conference contest ... Pacific Lutheran (2-3-1, NWC 1-0) remains at home Saturday, hosting Pacific University (2-4, NWC 0-1) at 2:30 p.m.