TACOMA, Wash. – Robby Guyer wasn't sure he would play Saturday.

And if he did, he figured it would only be for a few minutes.

Nursing a bum ankle that kept him out of practice this week, Guyer subbed on at halftime and had an assist and a goal in just 23 minutes of action to help lead the Pacific Lutheran men's soccer team to a 3-1 victory against Whitworth at East Field in Northwest Conference play.

"It hurt at first, but once the adrenaline kicked in I just started rolling with it," Guyer said.

The Lutes (7-1-0 overall, 2-1-0 NWC) are glad he shook off the pain.

Trailing 1-0 at halftime and coming off their first loss of the season, Guyer made an immediate impact.

He and Trevor Thompson assisted on the equalizer as Sammy Tafolla headed in a pass from close range in the 54^th minute.

It was initially ruled offside, but after a brief conference between the center referee and the linesman, it was deemed a goal.

"We didn't take our chances well in the first half," PLU coach John Yorke said. "That was one thing we did really well in the second half. It was a great effort by the boys."

In the 66^th minute, Guyer scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Thompson. Guyer slotted the ball home past Whitworth (3-3-2, 1-1-1) keeper Aiden Chase.

"I was looking for a 1-2 and it didn't pay off," Guyer said of the play preceding his goal. "(The ball) ended up in front of me anyway and I just hit it in."

Craig Johnson finished off the scoring in the 89^th minute off an assist from Keeton Heggerness. It was Johnson's third of the season.
 

.@PLU_MensSoccer junior Craig Johnson, who scored a goal Saturday, talks to Lutes Sports Network's Mallory Rusoff about what his team did in the second half that led to a 3-1 win. pic.twitter.com/VGHD5R1eCB

— PLU Athletics (@golutes) September 25, 2022

"We have a lot of guys who can score goals," Yorke said. "You can try to take away one or the other, but we do have guys who can stand up and score. Today Trevor was locked down and had a hard time getting free, but Craig scored, Robby scored, Sammy scored."

Nicholas Gaston made four saves in goal to earn the victory.

"This was huge," Guyer said. "We kind of lost a lot of confidence last weekend, but we came back and we're hoping to not lose again."

That mission starts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday when Whitman visits East Field.