Box Score SPOKANE, Wash. – Zach Waldher scored twice and Sam Selisch tallied his team-leading fourth goal of the season as Whitworth defeated visiting George Fox in a wild Northwest Conference men's soccer match on Saturday afternoon.
The Pirates improved to 4-2-1 overall and 2-1 in the NWC while the Bruins dropped to 1-8, 0-3.
Scoring came fast and furious in the first half in slippery conditions caused by rainy weather. Selisch gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when he finished off a dynamic attack from teammate Andrew French, who got the assist.
But Sawyer 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 teammate Josh Scarth past Whitworth keeper Shane Nishioka-Healy. The second came from just in front of the goal off of an assist by Myles Sorokovsky in the 25th minute. Those two goals doubled Meek's season total to four in 2013.
Waldher scored the first of his two goals in the 30th minute when he intercepted a clearing passes and beat Bruin keeper Luke Ridder for his first career score.
Sam Engle gave the Pirates back the lead in the 34th minute after David Starkovich dispossessed a GFU defender and fed Engle across the box for the open shot. After the Pirate team celebrated, Engle was given a yellow card, which was at the time his second booking of the match and the Pirates then had to play the rest of the contest with only ten players.
However, following the match the referee consulted the rule book to confirm 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.
Nevertheless, the Pirates were running the rest of the match with only ten men on the field. Despite the numerical disadvantage 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 Pirate lead, which the Bucs took into halftime.
Karl Muelheims gave Whitworth a 5-2 lead early in the second half when he fielded a long pass from French and got the ball past back up goal keeper Ricardo Sotelo for his first goal of the season.
Luke Hammer got GFU back within 5-3 in the 59th minute when he scored from close range following a nice one-two passing combo from Evan Cooney and Tyler Dyck.
The Pirates then tightened up the defense and did not allow the Bruins to get any closer.
Despite playing most of the match down a player, 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 GFU, while Soleto made four saves.
Whitworth will play only its second home match of 2013 when the Pirates host Pacific (Ore.) on Sunday afternoon. George Fox travels to play at Whitman on Sunday.
