Sept. 15, 2007

PLU Men’s Soccer Breaks Out, Wins NWC Opener

Joern Hella - goal and assist

Daniel Mangum - records the shutout

Box Score

PARKLAND, Wash. – Pacific Lutheran broke into the win column in men’s soccer on Saturday afternoon, and it came at a good time.

The Lutes ended a four-match losing streak to start the season by beating George Fox, 4-0, in their Northwest Conference opener on Saturday at the PLU field. The visiting Bruins are now 3-4 overall and 1-1 in the conference standings.

PLU broke onto the board just 2:03 into the match when sophomore midfielder Jason Bjorgo slammed home his second goal of the season, a 12-yard shot following a goal mouth scramble. The Bruins failed to get a good clearance and Bjorgo was in the right spot to make them pay for their mistake. The first half ended with the Lutes leading 1-0, but they dominated second-half action.

Just 50 seconds into the second period, senior defender Brian Lubeck headed home a cross from Brennan Brown for his first tally this year. Michael Ferguson scored his second goal of the 2007 campaign at 71:09, finally beating Bruins goalkeeper Kyle Putnam with a left-footed shot from 15 yards out. Putnam, who measures 6-8, made several excellent saves to keep Ferguson from scoring at least two more goals.

PLU’s final tally came at 79:22 when Joern Hella, who assisted on Ferguson’s tally, took a pass from Derek MacLean and beat Putnam with a low shot to the far post. Hella, a freshman from Norway, was making his first appearance of the season.

The Lutes out-shot the Bruins, 18-3, including a 13-2 advantage in the second half. Putnam made five saves for the visitors and freshman Daniel Mangum, making his first start, picked up one save the PLU.

The Lutes return to action at 2:30 p.m. Sunday when they host the Simpson College Storm in a non-conference match.

- PLU -