TACOMA, Wash. - The Pacific Lutheran University men's soccer team looks to continue its five-game winning streak this weekend as the Wildcats of Linfield College and the Bearcats of Willamette University travel to East Field on Homecoming weekend. The games are additionally a chance for Head Coach John Yorke to collect his 200th career win, as he heads into the weekend with 199 victories as PLU's coach. 
 


Last weekend the Lutes (7-3, 4-0 Northwest Conference) played their first away games of conference play, as they traveled to eastern Washington to battle Whitworth University and Whitman College. The Lutes came out on top in both of their games, defeating the Pirates 5-0 on Saturday, and the Blues 3-1 on Sunday. The weekend marked another dominating defense performance, with the Lutes recording their fourth clean sheet in five games.

 

"It's always a great feeling to walk away with a clean sheet," said junior defender Sam Ebner. "It all starts with everyone doing their job and we have been able to consistently do that."
 
"We came into the weekend with a plan for Whitworth. We executed that plan to perfection in the first half putting them under pressure that led to them making mistakes which gave us three goals in the first half. As far as Whitman, we came out a little slow but at halftime, we made some mental changes and that led to us fixing the physical mistakes and we were then able to capitalize on the chances we got."
 
Ebner is looking forward to the remainder of the season with the team, as well as getting his junior year off to a good start.
 
"I'm looking forward to see how well we do the rest of the season, and how much we can grow as a team. As far as school I'm excited to see how I can start implementing what I'm doing in class into potential internships." 
 
"I'm in my junior year now. I'm studying business management. Post-graduation I want to work in hospital administration. This will require me to get my master's in healthcare administration. This all started with doing leadership in high school when I realized I wanted to help out people as much as I could which led to hospital administration."
 
Although a lot of what Ebner does off the field revolves around soccer, he also has many hobbies and activities that keep him busy such as playing basketball and hanging out with friends. Ebner is also the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at PLU, an organization that gives a bigger voice to student-athlete.
 
"SAAC is the voice of the student-athletes. We bring in speakers, work with Special Olympics and other groups in the area. We also host sports camps every year. But our main goal is to be the voice for the athletes around campus. I'm happy to be big large part of that if that's leading meeting or going to event to make sure that we are heard across campus."
 
As a junior, Ebner has many memories with the team that he will remember for years to come.
 
"This last weekend is definitely up there among the favorite, with the strong team chemistry and the first-years fitting in well and buying into our season goal, but going to the national tournament last season. Playing in 20-degree weather in Minnesota and being with that group of guys in that environment was something I will never forget."
 
As the team gets ready for the weekend, they are working hard in practice to prepare for a home series against Linfield and Willamette.
 
"We're just taking it day by making sure that we have a good week of training. We need to make sure that we are focused and ready to take on Linfield on Saturday and give it all we got."
 
Ebner and the Lutes are anticipating this upcoming weekend and bolstering their NWC record, as they play host to Linfield College on Saturday Oct. 5th at 12 p.m. and Willamette University on Sunday Oct. 6th at 12 p.m.
 
Chasing 200: Lutes' Head Coach John Yorke enters the weekend just one win shy of 200 for his career. Manning the sidelines since the 2002 campaign, Yorke has amassed a 199-123-21 record with his alma mater, claiming three NWC titles and making two trips to the NCAA Championships.
 
Oct. 5: PLU vs. Linfield at East Field (12 p.m.)
 
Series History: The Lutes and Wildcats have met 62 times on the soccer pitch since 1980 with PLU enjoying a 39-20-3 edge in the all-time series, including winning the last five encounters. 
 
About the Wildcats: Linfield (4-4-1, 2-1-1 NWC) heads to Tacoma in third place in the league standings after finishing last weekend unbeaten (1-0-1). 
 
The Wildcats have gone to overtime in three of their four NWC games this fall, including a 2-1 double overtime win last Saturday against George Fox University while battling to a 1-1 stalemate on Sunday against Pacific University.
 
Oct. 6: PLU vs. Willamette at East Field (12 p.m.)
 
Series History: The Lutes and Bearcats have met 65 times since the 1980 season with PLU holding a 37-24-4 edge in the all-time series. Last season, the Lutes fell 3-1 at home to the Bearcats before collecting a 1-1 draw later in the year in Salem, Oregon. 
 
About the Bearcats: Willamette (6-1-2, 3-1 NWC) sits right behind the Lutes in second place in the league standings heading into the weekend. 
 
The Bearcats earned a split against the Whits to open league action, prevailing 4-1 over Whitman before being tripped up 4-3 in overtime against Whitworth. Last weekend, Willamette was firing on all cylinders, crushing Pacific 4-0 and taking down George Fox 2-0.