Gu Returns To Top Form, Blanks Osu

Jason Kuska and Jeff McAllister broke a scoreless tie by scoring goals within 4 minutes of each other, and Jeremy Clark added some icing with his first tally of the season as Gonzaga University blanked Oregon State 3-0 Sunday in a non-conference men’s soccer match at Martin Field.

In the process, Gonzaga (13-4-0), ranked 19th by Soccer America, equaled the school record for victories established by the inaugural team in 1980.

The Bulldogs, who bounced back from Friday’s tough 1-0 loss to seventh-ranked Washington, remain in contention for the West Coast Conference title and an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. They also have a shot at an at-large berth in the national tournament.

Sunday, Kuska and McAllister teamed up for Gonzaga’s first goal, McAllister’s right-to-left cross was headed in by Kuska past OSU keeper Bryan Hill at 58:44. McAllister collected his 100th career point on the play. McAllister came back at 62:53 with a double header off a free kick and increased his single-season school records for goals and points to 19 and 46 respectively.

Gonzaga, 3-2 in conference competition, will play WCC rival University of Portland Friday in their regular-season home finale.

Women’s soccer

Angie Crivello scored one goal and assisted on the other to give the University of Washington a 2-0 Pacific-10 Conference victory over Washington State in front of 1,198 fans at Seattle.

The Huskies (7-10-0, 5-2-0) sent the Cougars (7-9-0, 2-5-0) to their fifth straight defeat, the last four by shutout.

UW outshot WSU 21-1. Randy Glas was credited with Washington State’s only shot, a drive from 15 yards out in the 70th minute.

Crivello scored after a scramble in front of the goal mouth in the 25th minute. Freshman Theresa Wagner scored UW’s other goal after taking a crossing pass from Crivello at 57:44.

Cross country

Pacific Lutheran and top-ranked Puget Sound won the team titles and Whitworth’s women earned a trip to nationals in Saturday’s Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges championships at Champoeg State Park near St. Paul, Ore.

Fifth-ranked PLU earned its 11th men’s title in the last 14 years by scoring 32 points, 14 less than Puget Sound. Ryan Pauling gave the Lutes the individual title by defeating Puget Sound’s Dave Davis by one second.

UPS breezed to the women’s title with a near-minimum 18 points. Whitworth finished third with 124 points. Kate Schmitt and Andrea Boitano ran one-two for the Loggers. The Loggers had seven of the top 10 finishers.

Whitworth’s Miranda Thygesen finished 12th in 19 minutes, 23.3 seconds. Teammate Annie Scott crossed the finish line 19th.

The top three teams advance to the NAIA championships Nov. 15 at Kenosha, Wis.

, DataTimes