SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's soccer team hopes to turn the momentum built by two home victories into success on the road this weekend at Puget Sound (Saturday) and Pacific Lutheran (Sunday). Both matches are scheduled to start at 2:30 pm.
Check the links on the right for current Covid-19 attendance policies at each school. Also, check the Whitworth volleyball schedule for live links to follow the action.
The Pirates: Whitworth (3-2-1, 2-0 NWC) defeated Willamette and Linfield at home to open the Northwest Conference schedule.
Beckett Arthur and Dominic Gusman scored goals only two minutes apart in the first four minutes of the second half to lift the Pirates to a 2-1 win over visiting Willamette in the NWC opener on Saturday. The Bearcats applied heavy pressure after getting within one goal, but the Whitworth defense was up to the task and Bo Broyles made eight saves to preserve the win.
Gusman and Arthur dominated again during Sunday's 6-1 win over visiting Linfield. Gusman posted three goals and an assist, while Arthur scored two more goals. It was Andyn Maldonado, from an assist by Johnathan Guglielmetti, who got the Pirates on the board with his first goal of the season. The last time Whitworth scored so many goals in a match was Oct. 1, 2016 during a 7-0 win over Pacific (Ore.).
Gusman Honored: The Northwest Conference selected Dominic Gusman as its men's soccer Offensive Student-Athlete of the Week following his four goal, one assist performance against Willamette and Linfield.
The Opponents: Puget Sound is 2-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the NWC heading into Saturday's match against Whitworth. The Loggers tied 1-1 at Pacific last Saturday and won 1-0 at George Fox on Sunday. Marko Babiak leads the team with three goals and an assist. Whitworth went 2-1-1 against Puget Sound last spring, winning and tying in Spokane and splitting in Tacoma.
Pacific Lutheran is 5-2 overall and 2-0 in the NWC heading into Saturday's match against Whitman. The Lutes rolled past George Fox (5-0) and Pacific (3-0) on the road last weekend. Craig Johnson has four goals and two assists for PLU. The Lutes won two of the three matches against Whitworth last spring.
The Coach: Jeremy Payne, a talented and highly accomplished young coach, enters his second season as men's soccer coach at Whitworth University in 2021.
Payne is a graduate of Messiah College (Pa.), where he was the NSCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014. Following graduation from Messiah, Payne became a graduate assistant coach at Eastern University (St. David's, Pa.) in August of 2015 and served in that role for two seasons before he was promoted to head coach in March of 2017. He led the Eagles to a 42-17-5 record and two Division III tournament appearances over the last three seasons.
