Gonzaga opens WCC men’s soccer play with win

Gonzaga opened West Coast Conference men’s soccer play in a big way as freshman Mitchell Weller scored his first goal late in the second half to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 win at Portland on Friday.

The Zags (4-2-1, 1-0-0) fell behind early when Bryan Irwin connected for the Pilots (3-3-2, 0-1-0). That held up until Tye Perdido scored in the opening seconds of the second half.

•After a slow start, Community Colleges of Spokane rolled to a 4-1 win over Southwestern Oregon at SFCC. The visitors struck early, scoring in the 10th minute. Jake Krueger knotted the score in the 38th minute. The Sasquatch got untracked in the second half, getting goals from Travis Green, Alex Martinez and Rick Reilly.

•Four players scored, three in the second half, as North Idaho improved to 3-1-3 with a 4-0 win at Colorado Mountain College. Orlando Figueroa notched the winner in the 23rd minute off an assist from Jonas Magstadt.

Women’s soccer

Washington State (4-2-3) sophomore Lindsay Parlee made six saves, including a pair of difficult ones in the second half, to make Mallory Fox’s first-half goal – on a free kick – stand up for a 1-0 win over Gonzaga (4-6-0) in a non-conference game in Pullman.

•Lauryn Koelzer dribbled through the box and around the goal keeper in the 71st minute to lift Eastern Washington (2-4-2) to a 1-0 win over Idaho (1-7-1) in Cheney. Jessica Blessard made seven saves for the Eagles, six coming in the first half when the Vandals controlled the action.

•Jessica McDonnell came off the bench to score two late goals to secure a 3-0 victory for CC Spokane over SW Oregon at SFCC. Patty Duncan’s goal late in the first half staked the Sasquatch to a 1-0 lead, which was enough for keeper Claire Pflueger, who made five saves in earning the shutout.

• Natalie Nichols and Haley Lightfoot scored in the first half and North Idaho held on to defeat Western Wyoming 2-1 in Salt Lake City. WWCC peppered Amanda Wemple with 23 shots, forcing her to make 13 saves, but only got the one past her.

Volleyball

Whitney Dosty had 17 kills and Tiffany Owens had 12 as Arizona (11-1) swept Washington Sate (7-5) in a Pac-10 match in Tucson, Ariz. Brittany Tillman led the Cougars with 11 kills and Jackie Albright had 14 digs.

•George Fox (8-5, 2-1) rallied from two games down to defeat Whitworth (8-7, 1-2) 3-2 in a Northwest Conference match in Newberg, Ore., taking the fifth game 16-14. Kaimi Rocha had 19 digs and 19 kills to lead the Pirates, with Nikki Bardwell adding 16 kills.

•CC Spokane opened with a pair of two-point wins then rolled to a 25-11 victory in the third game to sweep Big Bend at SFCC. The Sasquatch used a balanced attack, hitting .242 to Big Bend’s .054.

Junior hockey

Goals by Ryan Maul and Tyler Mort in the final 2 minutes, the last with 10 seconds remaining, paved the way for the Spokane Braves to defeat Kimberley in a KIJHL shootout. After tying the game, the Braves (5-2) won the shootout 2-1, with Cash Ulrich coming up big in goal and Chase Wharton netting the winner.