WALLA WALLA, Wash. – In their first appearance of the 2025 regular season, the Corban University Men's Soccer program dropped a 4-2 decision on the road to NCAA DIII Whitman College, as the Blues scored four goals in the opening thirty-five minutes and despite a pair of goals to open the second half for the Warriors, they'll depart southwestern Washington with a loss in their season opener. Today's contest was a counter for the Navy and Gold towards their overall season record, while Whitman utilized the match as a scrimmage as required by NCAA season of competition guidelines.
"We learned a lot about our group today and where we need to make adjustments moving forward," explained Warriors' head coach Tim Kagey. "We are excited about continuing to grow as a group and learning from today's result."
The Blues, who finished the 2024 season in third overall within the Northwest Conference men's soccer standings, scored within the opening sixteen minutes of play this afternoon and never trailed the remainder of the contest, adding three more goals over the course of the next twenty minutes while holding the Warriors (0-1) scoreless.
However, just one minute and twenty-two seconds into the second half, redshirt senior midfielder Bryan Lopez broke through for the Navy and Gold's first goal of the season, with sophomore forward Zachary Milczarek scoring seven minutes later on his own unassisted goal. Despite cutting the deficit in half with over thirty-six minutes of play remaining, Whitman was able to keep the Warriors off the scoreboard for the remainder of day to keep Corban out of the win column on their opening day.
The loss didn't come without an overwhelming amount of effort from the Navy and Gold, as they outshot, took more corner kicks, and forced more shots on goal than the Blues over the ninety minutes played out on James Hayner Field.
Both Milczarek and sophomore defender Alexander Guindy tied for the game-high in shots with two apiece, while six other Warriors registered at least one shot against Whitman. Coach Kagey split time with two goalkeepers in net this afternoon, with redshirt sophomore Callum Thompson conceding the four first half goals and the losing decision while redshirt senior Isaac Pureco secured a single save in a second half shutout.
The Blues were led by a two-goal, one-assist effort from midfielder Henry Pierce, who scored both the first and fourth goals of the game and assisted on the second to lead both teams in shots on goal. Defensively for Whitman, goalkeeper Tait Whittemore registered a clean sheet in the first half yet settled for two goals allowed and three saves over the second.
Corban men's soccer will be back in action on Sunday, August 24th when they're scheduled to partake in the Battle for the Capital at Spark Field against NCAA DIII and crosstown rival Willamette University (0-0) with a 7pm kickoff.
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