WALLA WALLA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's soccer team won its first game of the weekend road trip on Saturday afternoon, defeating host Whitman College 1-0.

"Today was a very good game for us because Whitman is a good team and to go on the road and win there is a difficult thing to do," said head coach John Yorke. "I thought we played some good soccer today but I was more proud of how well we defended and gritted out the game. We've invested a lot of hard work into the last couple of weeks and to see it make a difference in today's game was a big positive."

The Lutes (6-3) scored late in the first half on a goal by sophomore Rainier Schlekewey in the 42nd minute off an assist from Jaisen Zurfluh. The Lutes would then go on to hang on to the slim lead for the rest of the game and get their first conference away win of the season, against the Blues (3-4).

"I was really proud of the guys in their efforts today. I thought we got some great minutes from both the starters and the players that came into the game. It was a true team effort today. We have another very difficult game tomorrow and we need to build off of today and really bring a mental toughness and energy to tomorrow."

Senior RJ Noll played the full 90 minutes as goalkeeper for the Lutes, tallying an impressive six saves. The Blues counterpart in goal was Matt Reich who also went the full 90 minutes in goal, documenting four saves.

Whitman owned a 13-8 shot advantage, with a narrow 6-5 lead in shots on target, while PLU led the game in corners at 11-7.

The Lutes take the field again tomorrow at 2:30 PM, as they complete the weekend trip against Whitworth University in Spokane, WA.