PARKLAND, Wash. – Whitworth went toe-to-toe with defending Northwest Conference men's soccer champion Pacific Lutheran before falling 2-1 on the road to the Lutes on Sunday afternoon.

The Lutes, who defeated formerly first place Whitman 7-0 on Saturday, improved to 8-1-3 overall and 6-0-2 NWC (20 points), while the Pirates dropped to 6-4-2, 4-2-2 NWC (14 points).

All three goals came in the decisive first half.  PLU got on the board first when Cole Dobson scored his second goal of the season from an assist by Trevor Thompson in the 16^th minute. 

Whitworth tied the match in the 34^th minute when Keegan Davis tallied his second goal of the season, unassisted.

PLU went back in front in the 44^th minute, just before halftime, on Quinn Bieber's second goal of 2024.  Thompson had the assist again. 

The Lutes only had two shots on goal in the match and both went into the net.  PLU finished with a slight 12-11 edge in overall shots, but the Pirates had a 7-2 advantage in shots on-target. 

"They outshot us but we blocked most of those attempts and we had really good chances to score but unfortunately did not convert those opportunities," said Whitworth head coach Kevin Moon.

Neither team scored in the second half, even though each had more shot attempts than the first period.  The Pirates outshot the Lutes 8-6 in the second 45 minutes.

Whitworth will open the second round of Northwest Conference matches at Pacific (Ore.) and George Fox next weekend.