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Gonzaga University Athletics

Ugly ties? A matter of perspective

  The Gonzaga men’s soccer team was fit to be tied Sunday.

On the positive side, the Bulldogs are tied for first place in the West Coast Conference after a 3-3 draw Sunday afternoon with visiting San Diego – their third tie in four matches.

“We didn’t finish it,” Gonzaga coach Einar Thorarinsson said of Sunday’s match.

“We have to take positives out of it. … We had our chances and could have finished the game on the chances we had. They showed a lot of character coming back,” Thorarinsson said of his team, which is 6-2-3 overall and 1-0-3 in the WCC.

Clark Philipps, named the WCC player of the week on Monday, scored twice against the Toreros, but the visitors converted two penalty kicks, the second in the 87th minute to tie the match at 3-3.

Two days earlier, Jakob Granlund and Conner Bevans each scored goals to lead the Bulldogs to a 2-1 win over Loyola Marymount, Gonzaga’s’ first WCC win since the 2011 season.

Whitworth: In their only match of the weekend, the visiting Pirates held off Whitman to take an important 2-1 Northwest Conference win Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates ended a three-game winless streak in conference road matches to improve to 6-3-2 overall and 4-2-1 in the NWC. Sam Selisch gave Whitworth the lead in the 22nd minute with his team-leading fifth goal of the season, which came on a free kick from Andrew French.

Women

Washington State: On the cusp of joining the upper ranks of the Pac-12 standings, the Cougars instead fell into seventh place after losing a 4-3 decision to visiting Utah on Sunday.

Katie Taylor’s goal in the 104th minute put the Utes into second place behind UCLA, while Washington State fell to 9-2-3 overall and 2-2-1 in the conference.

Taylor’s goal salvaged the day for the Utah, which saw a 3-0 halftime lead slip away.

“Our energy was really good at the beginning of the second half,” Cougar coach Keidane McAlpine said. “We dug ourselves a big hole early and it wound up biting us in the end.”

The Cougars dominated Colorado 3-0 in Friday’s match, also in Pullman, as sophomore Cara Wegner scored twice. The Cougars also got a goal from senior Micaela Castain, her team-leading 11th of the season, in the 58th minute.

Gonzaga: The Bulldogs scored two goals in the first five minutes of a 3-1 win at Loyola Marymount that also gave GU its first West Coast Conference win of the season.

Heather Johnson’s 18-yard shot less than two mintes was all the momentum the Bulldogs needed.

“I felt like this was the best overall team performance on both sides; attacking and defensively, and from start to finish,” said Gonzaga head coach Amy Edwards, whose club improved to 5-6-1 overall and 1-1 in the WCC.

The Bulldogs opened WCC play with a 1-0 loss at Pepperdine on Friday.

Eastern Washington: Senior Katy Allen gave the Eagles an early lead at North Dakota, but the hosts rallied for a 3-1 Big Sky Conference win.

Eastern fell to 3-12 overall and 1-5 in the Big Sky.

It was the same story Friday at Northern Colorado, where Katie Cashman gave the Eagles the lead in the 67th minute, only to see the Bears score two late goals.

Whitworth: Kristin Wucherer’s second goal of the season helped the Pirates break a four-match winless streak with a 1-0 win over visiting George Fox in a Northwest Conference play Saturday.

The Pirates improved to 6-5-2 overall and 3-4-2 in the NWC.  The Bruins dropped to 3-7-1, 1-5-1.

The Pirates got on the board in the 49th minute. Jackie Day slotted a perfect pass across the penalty area to Wucherer, who was charging in from the right side. 

Idaho: The visiting Vandals could get off only five shots in a 2-0 Western Athletic Conference loss at Grand Canyon on Sunday.

“We lost to the better team today,” said coach Pete Showler, whose team fell to 3-10 overall and 3-3 in the WAC.