by Jessica Razanadrakoto
Senior Micheal Ramos’ four assists and three unassisted goals to tie two school records highlighted the Pirates’ 7-1 victory against the Bruins last Saturday, while the Pirates finished the weekend with a 4-1 win against the Boxers.
Traveling on the road, scoring three goals early on in the game against George Fox gave Whitworth an edge.
The Pirates played how they wanted to play by reaching out to their forwards and distributing the ball, junior David Starkovich said.
The Bucs scored in the 14th minute of the game with an unassisted goal by Ramos, setting the game’s tone. Less than 30 seconds later, another cross ball assisted by Ramos to junior Karl Muelheims was scored.
“We were going at their defense,” Muelheims said. “Ramos was on the left side of the field and he played the ball to the back post, and I kicked it with my right foot.”
The Pirates’ third goal came in the 28th minute off of Ramos’ penalty kick. The fourth goal occurred in the 57th minute when Ramos assisted sophomore Rylan Berriman.
“[Ramos]’s distribution was really good. He moved the field quite a bit [and] switched the balls a lot,” Muelheims said. “He sets up other players to succeed.”
The early scores caused the Pirates to lose focus, which allowed the Bruins to score in the 75th minute, Starkovich said.
“Everybody needed to stay focused,” Muelheims said. “We dropped off because we were up 3 or 4 and we were satisfied about how the game was going rather than think about what to take more from this team.”
The other three goals came within a 10-minute period with two goals assisted by Ramos and scored by Berriman and junior Sam Engle. The final goal came from Ramos on a one-on-one with the Bruins’ goalie.
Ramos ended up tying the school record for points in a game with 10, while tying the school record for assists in a game with four.
The game on Sunday proved to be just as lopsided.
Whitworth took the lead on the 23rd minute when Muelheims had an unassisted goal off a crossbar rebound after a shot by Ramos. However, 14 minutes later, junior Samual Jarrett took the ball himself from 10 yards out from the net and kicked it to the lower left corner, putting the Pirates up two.
“We decided to limit their ability to play through the back by high pressing their defense,” Muelheims said. “This forced them to kick it long, where Sam Engle had a height advantage in the midfield. All we had to do was win the second ball and attack their defense.”
Pacific scored their only goal in the 55th minute in the second half. However, to secure the lead, Muelheims gave another point to Whitworth with less than 10 minutes off an assist by Berriman.
Bringing the game to a close, Ramos scored the Pirates’ fourth and last goal by freshman Eric Espinoza’s assist.
“[Ramos] grows every time he’s on the field and brings everybody into the game,” Head Coach Morgan Cathey said. “He showed a lot more desire to put the ball in the back and that purpose was noticeable this weekend.”
The Pirates improved to 8-0-1 overall and 3-0-1 in the NWC.
Whitworth begins a stretch of home games this weekend by hosting Pacific Lutheran on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.