PARKLAND - Sam Freedman scored the only goal of the match with 12 seconds remaining to lift the visiting Whitman Missionaries to a 1-0 upset victory over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes in a Northwest Conference men's soccer match played Sunday at the PLU soccer field.

Reid Shaw's long cross from the right side went to the back post, where Freedman got in behind the defense and lofted a left-footed shot over the reach of 6-3 PLU keeper Brian Kostol and into the right corner of the goal. The goal, Freedman's fifth of the season, set off a wild celebration on the Whitman bench and deflated the Pacific Lutheran players and fans.

With the win, Whitman improves to 6-6-1 overall and to 4-3-2 in the conference, while Pacific Lutheran falls to 7-6-1 overall and 6-3-0 in the conference. With 18 points, the Lutes remain in second place, trailing NWC leader Pacific (7-1-1 in the conference) by four points.

Both teams had good spells of ball possession, but the Lutes had a clear advantage in shots with 19 total, including eight on frame, compared to seven for the Missionaries, four of which were on frame.

Michael Bathurst made eight saves to earn the shutout for the Missionaries. He came up big for his team in the early minutes of the second half, twice stopping shots by Lucas McCallum after the Lutes forward got in behind the Whitman defense.

PLU had other good scoring opportunites in both halves but could not capitalize. Less than a minute from the end of the first half, Bathurst dove to his left to tip Kit Deming's header around the post. With about 15 minutes left in the match, Daniele Zaccagnini's shot beat Bathurst but rolled just wide of the left post.

On the other end, Kostol tipped a free kick by Leland Matthaeus off the crossbar with 23 minutes to play, one of the senior's three saves in the contest.

PLU was playing its final home match of the season and honored five players seeing their final home action - Kostol, Zaccagnini, Deming, Brennan Hall and Kevin Buck - before the contest. The Lutes finish the regular season with five straight conference road matches, including games against Linfield on Saturday and versus Willamette on Sunday.

- PLU -