Oct. 24, 2007

MEN’S SOCCER: Every Match a Must Win for Lutes

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran at Whitman, Saturday, 2:30 p.m.; PLU at Whitworth, Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

A PLEA FOR HELP: Pacific Lutheran finds itself in needs of wins every time it plays and in need of help from other teams if it hopes to realize its dreams of the program’s first Northwest Conference title since 1992. That’s because the Lutes lost a crucial 1-0 decision last Wednesday afternoon to the Puget Sound Loggers. That defeat dropped the Lutes into third place in the conference standings, trailing first-place Whitworth and second-place Puget Sound. Following weekend action – including a 2-0 Lute victory over Pacific – the Lutes remained in third place with a 7-2-1 record, good for 22 points (three for a win, one for a tie). Whitworth holds down first with a 10-1-0 record and 30 points, followed by the UPS Loggers with an 8-1-1 record and 25 points.

BIG WEEKEND AHEAD: The conference standings may well be sorted out this weekend as Whitworth hosts the Loggers and the Lutes on back-to-back days. UPS handed Whitworth its only defeat of the conference season back on Sept. 30. After playing the tough fourth-place Whitman Missionaries on Saturday, PLU battles Whitworth on Sunday afternoon while UPS meets Whitman. Clearly, the Lutes need to win all four of their remaining matches – they play at Linfield and at Willamette during the final week of the season. Puget Sound also has four matches remaining, including contests at George Fox and Pacific during the final week of the season. Following this weekend’s action, Whitworth finishes with a match at Whitman.

LUTES TAKE TOUGH LOSS AGAINST LOGGERS: Puget Sound limited host Pacific Lutheran to just two shots the entire game and took advantage of a goal mouth scramble to score the game’s only goal in taking a 1-0 conference victory last Wednesday afternoon. The game, which had conference championship implications for both teams, was a surprisingly closely contested defensive affair. Puget Sound, which came into the match averaging more than 25 shots per conference game, had just seven attempts. Pacific Lutheran, second to UPS in the conference with nearly 14 shots per game, managed just two shots, both in the first half. Derek Woodworth scored his third goal of the season and the only goal of the match at 52:24, latching onto a loose ball in the penalty area and firing it past PLU goalkeeper Daniel Mangum. While Woodworth had the only goal, the Loggers had three good opportunities during a first half flurry, all of them coming within a minute of each other and all blocked by PLU defenders. The best chance came last when Greg Swanson fired a 15-yard shot at an empty goal but was denied by Lute defender Brian Lubeck, who dove in front of the shot. Pacific Lutheran had the first chance of the match three minutes in but Derek MacLean, unmarked on the back post on a corner kick, headed over the cross bar. The only other PLU opportunity was Erik Gracey’s first half shot that UPS goalkeeper Pete Van Sant easily handled.

REBOUND VICTORY: PLU followed up its disappointing loss to the Loggers by beating Pacific, 2-0, in a conference match played Saturday at the PLU field. It was the final home game for six PLU seniors – Michael Ferguson, Brian Lubeck, Erik Gracey, Thomas Pedersen, Trevor Jacka and Adam Ladage. Ferguson scored his 11th goal of the season in the first half and Andy Stolz added a second-half insurance for the Lutes. The Lutes took 16 shots in the match, while Pacific managed six shots in the game. PLU keeper Daniel Mangum finished with three saves for the Lutes.

FERGUSON WATCH: Michael Ferguson has 11 goals this season and needs four in the remaining four regular season matches to break Brian Gardner’s nearly 20-year old career record of 49 goals. Gardner played his soccer at PLU from 1986-89. With 46 career goals, Ferguson ranks No. 2 on the PLU career goal scoring list.

- PLU -