Box Score SPOKANE, Wash. – Zach Waldher added to his weekend total with two more goals, helping Whitworth pull away from visiting Pacific for a 4-1 Northwest Conference men's soccer victory on Sunday afternoon.
Walder's goals give him four for the weekend, a big reason the Pirates improved to 5-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the NWC. The Boxers fell to 5-5, 0-4.
Pacific jumped ahead early on a goal by Ian Farley in the seventh minute. He took a pass from Quitin Love and beat Whitworth keeper Shane Nishioka-Healy for his seventh goal of the season.
Waldher tied the match in the 19th minute, but the bulk of the work was done by Andrew French and Rylan Berriman. French sent a ball forward to Berriman, who one-touched across to a wide-open Waldher for the equalizer.
The tenor of the match changed late in the 23rd minute when Pacific defender Scott Manago drew a red card for a hard foul on French. Once the Boxers went down to ten players they were unable to press the Pirates as deep in Whitworth territory as they had over the first 20 minutes of the match.
The Pirates appeared poised to take the lead a few minutes later when Robby Ubben beat a defender and Pacific keeper Michael Summers to a ball in the box, but his shot was cleared off of the line at the last second by Garrick Knowles for the Boxers.
Will Wren was able to give the Bucs the lead in the 37th minute. He got a head on a corner kick, but the shot was saved by Summers. Wren then jumped on the rebound for his first goal of the season.
Waldher's fourth goal of the weekend (and of the season) came in the 59th minute. But again it was French who did the work. French worked around and through two Pacific defenders to the endline just to the right of the net. He crossed back to a wide-open Waldher who finished for a 3-1 Whitworth lead.
The Pirates' final tally was an own-goal after a hard crossing pass toward Nathan Fosket on the far post was deflected into the goal by a Boxer defender in the 67th minute.
Whitworth outshot Pacific 17-9 in the match, with a 10-3 edge in shots on-goal.
Whitworth heads west next Saturday for a match at Pacific Lutheran.
