SPOKANE, Wash. - Freshman Peter Vizzoni scored the lone goal of the game and the Pacific defense kept Minnesota-Morris out of the net as the Boxers topped the Cougars 1-0 in the Puma Whitworth Classic on Friday afternoon in Spokane.

Vizzoni took a low cross in crowded quarters from Matt Kimball and converted from eight yards out in the 41st minute in what would turn out to be the only tally of the match.

Meanwhile, the Boxer defense did its part in a tight contest. Sophomore goalkeeper Leyton Thommasen had two saves during the whitewash as Pacific improved to 1-1 on the season. Minnesota-Morris dropped to 0-2.

"This is a good win for us against a solid squad," said Pacific head coach Eric Mild. "Our defense needs to lead the way for us to be successful and that was the recipe today."

The Cougars, an NCAA Division III member of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, are picked to finish second in that league after reaching the UMAC title match in 2014 and finishing 12-6-2.

The match was fairly evenly played, with Pacific holding a slight lead in shots (12-10) and shots on goal (5-2). "We take pride in getting the shutout," Mild added. "We let them back into it a bit at the end but I like that we stayed tough. It was a good performance to build on.

"Our hope is to continue to progress tomorrow towards our goal of improving in every match," Mild said. "We played excellent today for much of the match. The quality of our possessions and our defending was much better today than it has been. Coran Yamamoto played outstanding match defensively today, leading a very good defensive effort."

The Boxers will take on Northwest (NAIA) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Northwest played host Whitworth earlier in the day and lost to the Pirates, 3-1.