TACOMA, Wash. – It seemed like a case déjà vu for Pacific Lutheran University men's soccer fans on Sunday at East Field. Yesterday, the Lutes destroyed Whitman College 5-0 and today they were back at it, beating Whitworth University by the same score this afternoon.
"It was an exceptional weekend for the team," said PLU Assistant Coach
Jamie Bloomstine, who was on the sidelines this afternoon for this 500
th career game as a player and an assistant coach for the Lutes. "In all my years with the program, this weekend will definitely stand out, playing two of the better teams in the conference and just dominating both games 5-0."
Keeton Heggerness got things going for the PLU attack as
Cris Lozano set him up with a goal for the second straight day and the Lutes headed to the locker room up 1-0 after the first 45 minutes.
It was another second half explosion for the Lute offense.
Robby Guyer scored in the 49
th minute to put things out of reach, but Lozano removed all doubt just over three minutes later as he found the back off the net off of a pretty pass by
Craig Johnson. Johnson got into the act as well in the 62
nd minute and
Christian Pineda finished off the Pirates as he scored his first career goal on a penalty kick in the 82
nd minute.
Nicholas Gaston made four saves to record the shutout. It marked the fourth consecutive clean sheet for the Lutes, who have yet to give up a goal in conference action. In four Northwest Conference games, PLU has outscored their opponents by an astounding 18-0.
The Lutes were picked to win their fourth consecutive Northwest Conference title in the preseason and they currently occupy the top spot in the league standings with 12 points.
Bloomstine a player or the Lutes from 1992-95, has been patrolling the sidelines for PLU since 2000 and reflected fondly on his time as a Lute.
"The love of the sport keeps me coming back," said Bloomstine. "I've been here for 26, 27 years and every year I tell myself 'maybe it's time to retire' but being around these guys and this program we built into a winning program the last six, seven, eight years and we just keep getting better and better. John and I have coached together for 20 years now and we've had a great run, but we want to continue that run into the national tournament and win some games there. I'd like to say I'll be around for 500 more, but we'll see on that one."
PLU looks to continue their winning ways next weekend when they head to Linfield University on Saturday. On Sunday, it will be a showdown at Willamette University, who currently are in second place in the NWC race.
