The Whitworth men’s soccer team fell 2-1 to the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags Sunday in a non-conference match at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon.

After the Stags scored early in the game’s 4th minute, the Pirates found themselves facing a 1-0 deficit for the majority of the match. In the 80th minute, Whitworth senior Dion Coxe scored an equalizing goal off an assist from senior midfielder Cameron Bushey. It was Coxe’s second goal of this season. The 6’3’’ Coxe used his size to head the ball into the back of the net off a free kick taken by Bushey.

“Dion is very good in the air, and very good in free kick situations; thankfully, he was able to finish it off,” head coach Sean Bushey said. “We were pushing very hard at that point to get the tying goal.”

The Stags responded just over 10 minutes later, scoring what proved to be the game-winning goal late in the 90th minute of the match. The Stags’ Jake Bishop scored off a pass from five yards out to give Claremont-Mudd-Scripps a 2-1 lead.

Whitworth’s senior goalkeeper Brian Sherpe made eight saves in the match but Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the shot battle, taking a total of 20 shots opposed to Whitworth’s 11.

With the loss, Whitworth drops to 2-1-1 overall. Conference play begins next Saturday for the Bucs when they return to Forest Grove for a match against Pacific University. After Saturday’s game,  the Pirates will travel to Newberg, Oregon  this weekend for a match against George Fox.