PARKLAND, Wash. - Spencer Augustin and Chad Kearns both scored
their second goals of the match in the second half as Pacific
Lutheran pulled away from visiting Linfield for a 5-2 Northwest
Conference men's soccer victory on Saturday afternoon.
The first half saw a total of five goals scored and the Lutes
holding a 3-2 lead, but Augustin and Kearns added tallies as the
Lutes won their 10th match of the season against five defeats. More
importantly, they improved their NWC record to 7-3 to
stay within four points and striking distance of conference
co-leaders Whitworth and Pacific with four matches remaining. With
the defeat, Linfield fell to 5-9-1 overall and 4-6 in the
conference.
Kearns opened the scoring just 2:38 into the match and later
closed it with just under 10 minutes remaining. Kearns, a sophomore
forward from Seattle, leads the team with nine goals this
season. In between Kearns' tallies, Augustin notched his sixth
and seventh goals of the season. Jason Bjorgo scored his second of
the season at the 28:59 mark to give the Lutes a 3-1 lead at the
time.
After Kearns and Augustin put the Lutes on top 2-0, Michel
Camacho notched his third goal on Danny Snelgrow's assist to halve
Linfield's deficit. After Bjorgo scored, Linfield again pulled to
within a goal on Kurtis Wong's header, his seventh tally
of the season, the assist going to Travis Isaacs.
Pacific Lutheran finally pulled away on Augustin's goal at 74:36
and Kearns' final tally at 80:26.
The Lutes took 25 shots, 13 on goal, to 10 shots, six on
goal, for the Wildcats. PLU enjoyed a 10-5 advantage in corner
kicks. Brian Kostol made four saves for PLU and Cody Tipton came up
with eight saves for Linfield.
PLU returns to action at 2:30 p.m. Saturday when it hosts
Willamette in another Northwest Conference match.
- PLU -
