SPOKANE, Wash. – The Whitworth men's soccer team is back at home this weekend as the Pirates open Northwest Conference play against Willamette on Saturday and Linfield on Sunday. Both matches will start at 2:30 pm on the Whitworth Soccer Field.
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The Pirates: Whitworth (1-2-1) lost twice on the road last weekend in California.
The Bucs fell 4-0 at Redlands on Friday night. The hosts outshot Whitworth 21-10 and had a 15-5 edge in shots on goal. Chris Barry was the only Pirate able to get off more than one shot on goal against the Bulldogs. Bo Broyles made 11 saves for Whitworth.
Whitworth had a much better chance to win on Sunday. The Pirates took a 2-1 lead in the second half after goals by Jose Bautista and Becket Arthur. However, the Sagehens rallied with two goals in the final 13 minutes to pull out the win. Broyles made four more saves for the Bucs.
The Opponents: Willamette comes into the weekend with a 2-1 record. The Bearcats have not played since a season-opening trip to Texas on September 3-6. Willamette defeated Southwestern and Occidental (Calif.) in a neutral-site match. The Bearcats lost 2-0 at Trinity. Ardem Baronian and Mack Van der Velde each have game-winning goals this season. Whitworth swept Willamette in 2019, winning both in overtime – 4-3 on the road and 2-1 at home.
Linfield is off to a 1-3 start heading into Saturday's match at Whitman. The Wildcats fell 2-1 at Northwest University last Sunday. Cesar Cruz-Espindola leads the team with a pair of goals. Linfield swept Whitworth in 2019, winning 2-1 in McMinnville and 1-0 in Spokane.
The Coach: Jeremy Payne, a talented and highly accomplished young coach, enters his second season as men's soccer coach at Whitworth University in 2021.
Payne is a graduate of Messiah College (Pa.), where he was the NSCAA Division III Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014. Following graduation from Messiah, Payne became a graduate assistant coach at Eastern University (St. David's, Pa.) in August of 2015 and served in that role for two seasons before he was promoted to head coach in March of 2017. He led the Eagles to a 42-17-5 record and two Division III tournament appearances over the last three seasons.
