BELLINGHAM, Wash.  – The Western Washington University men's soccer team led wire-to-wire in a 3-1 victory Saturday night over Montana State Billings at Harrington Field.
 
WWU received a first-half goal from junior forward Johan Espinoza, and a pair of second-half goals from senior forward Alex Whiting and junior forward Gilbert De La Luz to put away the Yellowjackets.
 
The Vikings improved to 5-7-0 overall and locked in a three-way tie for 2nd place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 3-2-0 record (9 points). MSUB dropped to 3-7-1 overall and 1-4-0 in GNAC play.
 
"A good win tonight bouncing back from Thursday's game against SPU…playing solid in all facets of the game," said WWU head coach Greg Brisbon. "We had a gameplan against MSUB and executed it well. It's always tough to bounce back from a game like Thursday, but the team gave great effort and energy tonight and were rewarded for a solid performance."
 
Espinoza got the Vikings on the board connecting on a goal directly off his own corner kick in the 29th minute, with his high curling shot towards the goal slightly deflecting off MSUB goalkeeper Georgios Theodoulidis.
 
Leading 1-0 at the half, the Vikings grew their lead with a goal by Whiting early in the 65th minute. Espinoza made a strong run from inside the right side of the box, crossed the ball to Whiting, who finished his own blocked shot for his second goal of the season.
 
MSUB made it a one-score game in the 75th minute on a on a corner kick goal by Valdemar Fogt.
 
The Western defense held firm over the final 15 minutes, and a goal in the 85th minute by De La Luz  put the game out of reach. Freshman forward Eric Bunnell raced down the left side of the field, cut back after beating his defender and laid the ball off to De La Luz, who had a clinical finish tucking his shot inside the left post from 10-yards. The goal was the fifth of the season for De La Luz to tie Drew Farnsworth for the team lead.
 
The Viking defense limited the GNAC's second-leading scorer Halil Yilmaz to just one shot in his 74 minutes of action.
 
"I thought our defense – all four defenders that were out there at different times – had an excellent night against a good offensive club," said Brisbon. "And our forwards were very active and showed a lot of energy up top tonight. A good all-around effort by the team to gain three important points in what is shaping up to be a tight GNAC race."
 
MSUB held a 15-13 edge in shots and a slight 7-5 advantage in shots on goal. WWU sophomore goalkeeper Brandon Locke made five saves and the Viking defense was also credited with a team save.
  WWU (5-7-0, 3-2-0 GNAC) will be off next week and finishes up its five-game homestand (and 2021 home schedule) hosting Saint Martin's on Thursday, October 28 (7 pm) and Northwest Nazarene on Saturday, October 30 (7 pm). View the complete 2021 schedule at wwuvikings.com/MSOC.
 

Western Washington 3, Montana State Billings 1
Date: October 16, 2021
Field: Harrington Field      Site: Bellingham, WA
Weather: 49°, Breezy          Att: 165
 
Goals by period              1  2    Tot
-----------------------------------------
Montana St. Billings.......  0  1  -  1
Western Washington.........  1  2  -  3
 
SCORING SUMMARY:
1.       28:07      WWU     Espinoza (off corner)
2.       64:10      WWU     Whiting
3.       74:59      MSUB    Fogt (off corner)
4.       84:03      WWU     De La Luz (Bunnell)
 
Shots: MSUB 15, WWU 13
Shots on Goal: MSUB 7, WWU 4
Saves: WWU 6 (Locke – 5), MSUB (Theodoulidis (2))
Corners: WWU 7, MSUB 7
Fouls: WWU 20, MSUB 13
Yellow Cards: MSUB 4, WWU 3
Offsides: WWU 2, MSUB 0
Kits: WWU (Black), MSUB (Yellow)

  WWU improved to 21-11-2 all-time vs. Montana State Billings and lead the series at Harrington Field 4-3-0. The series is nearly even at 5-5-1 over the last 11 games dating back to the 2015 season. The Vikings travel to play the Yellowjackets in Billings on Thursday, November 4.
  Here is a look at the GNAC standings following play on Saturday, with the Vikings tied for 2nd place in the table with 9 points (3-2-0):
 

MEN'S SOCCER		GNAC	PTS	OVERALL	PCT	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
1.	Seattle Pacific	4-1-0	12	10-2-0	.833	4-1-0	6-1-0	0-0-0	Lost 1
2.	Northwest Nazarene	3-2-0	9	6-5-0	.546	3-2-0	3-2-0	0-1-0	Lost 1
	Simon Fraser	3-2-0	9	6-5-0	.546	2-0-0	2-4-0	2-1-0	Won 2
	Western Washington	3-2-0	9	5-7-0	.417	3-2-0	2-5-0	0-0-0	Won 1
5.	Montana State Billings	1-4-0	3	3-7-1	.318	1-1-0	1-4-1	1-2-0	Lost 3
	Saint Martin's	1-4-0	3	2-10-0	.167	1-4-0	1-4-0	0-2-0	Won 1

  Fans can follow WWU men's soccer online at WWUVikings.com/MSOC, and via social media on Twitter (@SoccerWWU), Instagram (@wwu_msoccer) and Facebook (@WWUsoccermens). All home matches feature a live webcast, as well as most road matches, with links on how to follow the games available at WWUVikings.com/Live.