Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA — It was another frustrating day on the pitch for a young Whitman College men’s soccer team.

The Missionaries scored first and last, but Pacific Lutheran pushed across three in-between goals and emerged with a 3-2 Northwest Conference victory Sunday afternoon at the Whitman Athletic Fields.

The setback was the third time in a month that Whitman has lost after leading 1-0 at halftime.

Pacific Lutheran, getting second-half goals from three different players, improved to 6-3 in the NWC and 9-5 overall. Whitman slipped to 2-5-2 in conference and 3-7-3 on the season.

The Missionaries took a 1-0 lead when Todd Wallenius converted his fifth goal of the season in the 30th minute of the first half. Jordan Thomas charged into the right side of the box where PLU keeper Brian Kostol was trying to get his mitts on a loose ball. When the ball bounced free, Thomas dug it out and sent a crossing pass to Wallenius at the front of an open goal.

Whitman held its lead for just over two minutes of the second half. That’s when a free kick started a scrum in front of the Missionary goal that ended with Scott Parsons tapping in his first goal of the season for the Lutes.

Twelve minutes later, the Lutes quickly reversed another free kick, setting the table for a Chad Kearns goal, his seventh of the season.
With less than 18 minutes left to play, PLU extended its lead to 3-1 when Andy Hyres finished a breakaway for his fourth goal of the fall campaign.

Whitman wasn’t quite done. Jed Jacobson wriggled through the defense, bringing the ball in from the right corner for Andrew Clark, who sent a pass to the far post. Bottomly was the man on the spot, heading home his third goal of the season with more than 12 minutes still left to play.

Whitman hits the road this weekend for games at Pacific and George Fox.