SPOKANE, Wash. – A pair of goals by Sawyer Meek gave the George Fox University Bruins an early 2-1 lead, but the Whitworth University Pirates struck back with three more first-half goals and went on to a 5-3 win in Northwest Conference men's soccer action Saturday afternoon here at the Whitworth soccer field.

The scoring came fast and furious in the first half in slippery conditions caused by rainy weather.  Sam Selisch gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when he finished off a dynamic attack from Andrew French, who got the assist.  It was the fourth goal of the year for Selisch.

Meek singlehandedly rallied George Fox into the lead when he scored two goals only six minutes apart.  His first, in the 19th minute, came when he redirected a shot from Josh Scarth past Whitworth keeper Shane Nishioka-Healy.  The second came from just in front of the goal off an assist by Myles Sorokovsky in the 25th minute.  Those two goals doubled Meek's season total to four on the season.

Zach Waldher scored the first of his two goals in the game in the 30th minute when he intercepted a clearing pass and beat Bruin keeper Luke Ridder for his first career score. Sam Engle gave the Pirates the lead back in the 34th minute after David Starkovich swiped the ball and fed him across the box for the open shot, scoring his second goal of the year.

As the Whitworth team celebrated, Engle was given a yellow card, which at the time was his second card of the match, forcing the Pirates to play the rest of the contest with only ten players.  However, following the match, the referee consulted the rule book to confirm that a correction could still be made and informed both coaches that he had inadvertently issued the second yellow to the wrong player.   Engle's second yellow was then changed to Andrew Flint. 

Despite the numerical disparity, Whitworth gained a two-goal lead just over a minute later when Waldher took a pass from Selisch and slid the ball past the keeper for a 4-2 Pirates' lead, which they took into halftime.  Karl Muelheims made it 5-2 Whitworth early in the second half when he fielded a long pass from French and got the ball past new keeper Ricardo Sotelo for his first goal of the season.

Luke Hammer got the Bruins within two at 5-3 in the 59th minute when he scored his second goal of the season from close range following a nice one-two passing combo from Evan Cooney and Tyler Dyck.  The Bruins were unable to get any closer, however.

Whitworth finished with an 18-9 edge in overall shots and an 11-5 advantage in shots on goal.  Nishioka-Healy made two saves for the Pirates.  Ridder had two stops for George Fox, while Sotelo made four saves.

NEXT: George Fox (1-8, nwc 0-3) travels to play at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., on Sunday … Whitworth (4-2,1, NWC 2-1) will play only its second home match of 2013 when the Pirates host Pacific (Ore.) on Sunday … Both games start at 2:30 p.m.