Auggies oust Whitworth

When faced with a foreign situation during Thursday’s opening round the NCAA Division III men’s soccer championship, Whitworth University responded like a team that had never been there before.

The Pirates, engaged in a shootout for the first time since the opening round of the 2001 tournament, ran short of answers against visiting Augsburg College of Minneapolis at Whitworth Soccer Stadium and suffered their first opening-round tournament loss is school history.

Augsburg, after spotting the Bucs a 1-0 first-half lead, tied the game in the 61st minute on goal by Nick Anderson. Following two scoreless overtime periods, the Auggies used successful penalty kicks from Simon Rekkebo, Alex Hildebrandt, Lucas Ingram and Peter Loyd to win the shootout 4-2 and advance to a second-round road match against the University of Redlands (Calif.) on Sunday.

Whitworth, which was making its fifth postseason appearance after successfully defending its Northwest Conference championship, finished its season at 14-3-3.

Whitworth grabbed a lead 35 minutes into the game when an Augsburg clearing pass hit Pirates forward Elly Bulega in the head and bounced back into the net.

The goal, Bulega’s eighth of the year, was the first the Auggies (11-3-7) had given up in a 525-minute stretch spanning 51/2 matches. But the Bucs couldn’t make it hold up, despite dominating play throughout much of the contest, outshooting their opponent 18-9 and forging a 6-3 advantage in shots on goal.

“I’d say we’re pretty fortunate to come out with this result,” said Augsburg coach Greg Holker, whose Auggies earned an at-large tournament berth after losing in a shootout to Carleton College in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finals last week. “Whitworth is an excellent team that played very well, especially in the middle of the field.

“The key for us, as the game wore on, was to keep them away from the center of the field and then hang on for our lives defensively, really, on all those corner kicks.

Whitworth had 11 corner-kick opportunities, but converted on none, leaving coach Sean Bushey disappointed – and firmly planted on the fence as far as his opinion about shootouts is concerned.

“They’re exciting to watch and fun for the fans, but when you lose one, it really hurts,” he said.

“Still, we put ourselves in a position to experience it, and that’s good. Not many things in life give you the highs and lows like sports and a playoff opportunity like this, so I’m happy our guys got to experience that.”

Bushey said he thought his team, which got its shootout goals from Bulega and Cameron Bushey, controlled most of the game after Augsburg tied it during regulation.

“We had a good run of it after that and really pushed pressure on them,” he said. “But they always remained a dangerous team because they’re solid and well-coached. There’s a reason why it went to penalties.”

And quite possibly a reason why the Auggies prevailed.

“Penalty kicks are not a fun way to end the game, but our kids were in a battle like this just last week,” Holker said. “So maybe that prepared us a little bit better for what was ahead.”