SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's soccer team hits the road for the first time during the 2021 season this weekend as the Pirates travel to Southern California to take on Redlands and Pomona-Pitzer. Whitworth started the season at home against Carleton (Minn.) and Lawrence (Wis.) and came away 1-0-1.
See the Whitworth soccer schedule for live links to this weekend's matches. Fans interested in attending the games should visit the host schools' athletics websites for their current spectator policies.
The Pirates: Whitworth pulled out a 1-1 draw with Carleton (Minn.) in the opener. The visitors dominated the first 45 minutes, outshooting the Pirates and taking a 1-0 lead at halftime. Whitworth found its groove in the second half and the resulting pressure led to a handball call in the penalty box. Johnathan Guglielmetti converted the PK. The Pirates had the only shot on-goal in overtime.
Whitworth exploded for four goals in an 11-minute stretch of the first half of Saturday's 4-0 win over Lawrence (Wis.). Beckett Arthur scored twice, while Dominic Gusman had a goal and two assists. Jaime Rodriguez also scored a goal. The Pirates outshot the Vikings 17-7, including a 10-3 edge in shots on-goal. Bo Broyles and Josh Hill combined to make three saves for the shutout as each played 45 minutes.
Whitworth's match with Fontbonne was cancelled after the Griffins called off their trip to Spokane because of COVID-19 reasons.
The Opponents: The University of Redlands is a traditional power in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletics Conference. The Bulldogs are currently 1-0 after defeating fellow SCIAC member Chapman in a non-conference match on September 1st. Redlands did not play at all in 2020-21 due to Covid-19. The Bulldogs went 10-5-3 overall and 8-2-2 in the SCIAC in 2019. That was also the last year Whitworth and Redlands played in men's soccer and the Pirates came away with a 2-1 road victory.
Pomona-Pitzer Colleges is 1-1 so far this season. The Sagehens lost 2-1 to Bethesda (Calif.) in their opener, but beat UC Santa Cruz 2-1 in the second match. Pomona-Pitzer also did not play in 2020-21 and the Sagehens went 3-10-5 (2-6-4) in 2019. The Pirates last played the Sagehens in 2019 and tied 2-2 on the road.
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.
