WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Riley Paul scored the opener and Jose Beleche buried the eventual game winner for Whitman College during the first 20 minutes of Saturday afternoon's 3-1 Northwest Conference men's soccer victory over visiting George Fox University at the Whitman Athletic Fields.

The win gives the Missionaries (8-8, 4-6 NWC) a season sweep of the Bruins (2-12-1, 0-10-0), who they defeated early this fall on the road by a score of 2-0, and is Whitman's second win in a row after it downed host Walla Walla University Tuesday night.,

The first half was a flurry of action with all four goals lighting up the scoreboard within the opening 34 minutes.

Whitman nearly drew first blood in the fourth minute on Eric Conte's header which Bruins goalkeeper Ricardo Sotelo pulled down for a save on the first shot of the game. Four minutes later Paul broke the early scoreless tie with his second goal of the season. A Marcos Medina cross found Paul inside the box on the left side where he snapped off a shot back across to the right, beating Sotelo with a placement inside the post at the 7:11 mark for a 1-0 lead.

George Fox's Myles Sorokovsky snuck a shot in between three shots from the Missionaries during the next 12 minutes of action, but the field looked tilted downhill for Whitman as it seemed that every foray into its attacking third resulted in a scoring opportunity and more work for Sotelo.

The 20th minute saw a perfect thru ball from Bridger Sellegren split a pair of back-pedaling Bruins defenders who were too late in turning to catch a sprinting Jose Beleche. The pass left Beleche one-on-one with Sotelo which proved to be no contest as Beleche side-stepped the diving goalie and easily tapped in the eventual game-winner in the 21st minute.

Play seemed to settle over the next few minutes until GFU turned the field and pressured the Whitman defense and goalie Niko Contos. A Joel Schierman shot was blocked by a Missionaries defender but the rebound quickly fell at the feet of Joab Logan who was deft enough to slot a shot to the right behind Contos after the Whitman keeper had raced out to challenge Schierman.

Though Whitman had dominated play until then, its lead was still a precarious 2-1 after 26 minutes.

The clincher, compared to the game's previous goals, was a relatively nondescript play that probably surprised everyone, including Quin Nelson.

Whitman worked the ball down the left touch line and to the feet of Nelson who began to drive toward the left post as he crossed into the box. With no defender stepping in to challenge Nelson the Bruins' goalie was forced to leave his line and confront Nelson himself. However, Nelson lofted an arcing pass…cross…shot over Sotelo and toward the back third of the goal. With no one left to get in the way, the pass…cross…shot settled just under the cross bar, rattling the netting at the 33:18 mark to push Whitman's advantage back to two, a lead that the Missionaries carried into the halftime break.

Comparatively, after 17 combined shots over the opening 45 minutes, the second half was quieter. Contos needed to come up with saves in the 51st and 77th minutes while Sotelo was called into action with a pair of saves in the 56th. In all only 11 shots were generated over the final 45 minutes, with the final shot providing excitement late in the game as Fox's Evan Cooney plastered the crossbar from 30 yards out early in the 89th minute.

Contos earned the win in goal for Whitman with two saves while Sotelo was pinned with the loss after coming up with seven stops.

The Missionaries are back in action Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Athletic Fields where they will welcome Pacific (Ore.) University for a 2:30 p.m. conference match-up against the visiting Boxers.