Box Score
FOREST GROVE, ORE. – Five minutes away from their first victory of the season and playing with a man advantage, the Pacific men's soccer team gave up the equalizing goal before falling to Whitman 2-1 in overtime.
With less than a minute remaining in the first overtime period, Whitman's Jordan Thomas sent a cross through traffic in the 18-yard box to Chris Perkins, who drove in the game-winning goal inside the right post past a diving
Chris Reimer (So., Ferndale, Wash.).
Late in regulation, Perkins forced the extra period with a goal in the 85th minute. Reimer came to the far forward corner of the 18-yard box to challenge Whitman's Leland Matthaeus, then helplessly watched as Matthaeus directed a ball inside. Rising above the pack, the 6-foot-4 senior forward Perkins lifted a looping header just under the crossbar to level the match.
Compounding the disappointment for Pacific (0-2 NWC, 0-6 overall) was the fact that the Missionaries played a man down for the majority of the match. Sophomore defender Riley Hernandez received consecutive yellow cards in a four second span and was sent off the pitch in the 26th minute, forcing Whitman (2-0, 2-1-2) to play 10 against 11 the rest of the way.
The Boxers held a 1-0 lead at that point thanks to a beautiful goal by
Patrick Murray (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.). Murray fired off a perfect bending shot from a sharp left angle 28 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal. The senior midfielder knew he hit it just right as he put both hands in the air moments after the ball left his boot.
Carrying the lead well into the second half, the Boxers did not bunker down. In fact, they showcased some of their most spirited play of the season, aggressively attacking in the offensive half with good spacing and ball movement.
In the 69th minute, junior
Kody Ganiko (Jr., Makawao, Hawaii) got free up the left sideline, beat a defender and angled his run to the center of the pitch before spotting Murray breaking open on the right flank. Murray sent a strong shot across the goal mouth that just missed a few feet wide of the left post.
Following Perkins' leveler, the Boxers got three cracks at goal in the final minutes of regulation. Shots by
Devin Shull (So., Seattle, Wash.) and
Alex Arrington (Fr., Portland, Ore.) were saved by Whitman goalkeeper Michael Bathurst in the 86th and 87th minutes respectively. The closest the Boxers came to breaking the tie came at the end of the 89th minute, when a miscommunication between sophomore defender Cooper Schumacher and Bathurst resulted in Schumacher playing a ball back toward an empty goal. Bathurst sprinted back and caught the wayward poke microseconds before it crossed the goal line to the soundtrack of a collective gasp from the animated crowd of 250 at Lincoln Park Stadium.
A scrambling corner kick by Murray in the waning seconds of regulation ended in a
Garrick Knowles header wide of the goal.
Murray led all players with five shots, while Whitman's Sam Freedman put three of his four shots within the frame.
The Boxers have now dropped six straight home games to start the season and will begin a five-game road stretch at Willamette on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 2:30 p.m.
