Filip Timotija | Staff Writer
Whitworth men’s soccer ended another two-game losing streak by tallying two conference wins this past weekend at home. The Pirates won 2-0 against Pacific on Saturday, Oct. 2, and 4-1 against George Fox on Oct. 3.
Both teams went scoreless in the first half of Saturday’s game. Whitworth attempted eight shots, four of which were on target, while Pacific had four shots but none on goal.
Whitworth was dominating the ball with 66% of possession.
The Pirates came out with urgency in the second half and it showed on the scoreboard. Dominic Gusman scored on a header during the first minute of the second half after an accurate pass outside of the box from Christian Pumpelly.
Beckett Arthur scored the second goal for Whitworth during the 52nd minute of the game after the ball hit the post and bounced back to him for a kick-in.
Whitworth controlled the rest of the game, only allowing one shot on goal from Pacific.
The second game ended in a major Pirate win. Beckett Arthur kicked off the scoring montage during the 10th minute of the game by receiving a cross from Gusman and placing the ball in the middle of the net.
Five minutes later, Gusman put his name on the scoreboard by scoring one-on-one against the goalie after a precise delivery from Christian Pumpelly, who executed the assist from the center.
Joshua Cheng scored the only goal for George Fox in the 31st-minute with a pull-back right-foot shot that ended up in the bottom corner of Andrew Wolotira’s net.
The Pirates continued to attack and Beckett Arthur drew the penalty during the 42nd minute. He promptly converted it and gave Whitworth a 3-1 lead going into the second half.
Whitworth had eight shots in the first half, all of which were on goal. George Fox had five shots and four on goal.
The Pirates put the game away early in the second half when Ethan Kem scored his first goal of the season after just three minutes of play. Kem scored right in front of the goal after a perfectly placed cross pass from Jose Bautista.
Whitworth kept complete control of the game by handling 55% of possession. The Pirates led with total shots 14-10 and 12 shots on goal as opposed to George Fox’s eight.
Beckett Arthur was the star of the weekend, scoring three goals in two games.
“I was set up [pretty] well by my team, but I’m just trying to follow [Gusman’s] footsteps,” Arthur said.
Gusman scored two goals this weekend.
“The last 15 minutes of the [second] game might have been our best period [with] guys like Luke Denke stepping up, Sebastian Horn stepping up. We have a lot of guys who stepped up and they maybe played better than the first team,” Gusman said.
Whitworth is heading to Walla Walla next weekend to face off against Whitman College. The game is Saturday, Oct. 9, at 2:30 pm.