McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Whitman College gained the upper hand on an Eric Conte goal in the 58th minute, and the Missionaries received stellar goaltending by Niko Contos to stave off host Linfield College in Saturday afternoon's 2-1 Northwest Conference men's soccer victory over the Wildcats.

Conte knocked home a deflection off a corner kick chance for Whitman (9-9, 5-7 NWC) at the 57:15 mark to push the Missionaries to their second lead of the day. Contos took over from there, coming up with three more of his 11 career-best saves over the final 32 minutes. Included in that trio of late-game stops was the save of a Linfield (6-9-1, 4-7-1) penalty kick in the 78th minute.

Early action looked as if the team's might be giving the scoreboard a lot of work as both teams erased the zero on the board in the 16th-minute of the first half.

Park Harmon provided Whitman with its first lead of the afternoon with an unassisted goal at the 15:16 mark. After beating a Wildcats defender in the box Harmon laced a shot that glanced off goalkeeper Jack O'Keefe's gloves and into the netting of the right side of the goal.

The advantage was short-lived as Linfield found the equalizer just 41 seconds later when Brian DeGrandmont's shot toward the right post was saved by Contos who was unable to control the rebound, setting up Nicholas Autencio for an easy tap-in back across into the left side.

Contos had already registered the first three saves of his afternoon by the time Harmon pushed Whitman ahead. With his save of DeGrandmont's shot and another stop early in the 16th Contos completed the opening 45 minutes with five saves. He went back to work quickly in the second half, registering saves eight seconds apart before the half was two minutes old.

Whitman tilted the field toward the Linfield end over the next minutes, though, forcing O'Keefe to match Contos with saves off a pair of Whitman shots in the 57th minute.

Following that second save the Missionaries continued the pressure in their attacking third, generating a corner kick chance late in the 57th. Noah Cavanaugh lofted the corner chance into the box where it finally found Conte for the deflection and goal early in the 58th.

Linfield raced down field on the ensuing possession but Contos added yet another save to preserve the just-gained advantage.

The Wildcats drove deep into the right corner in the 78th before crossing into the box where they gained a penalty kick chance off a Whitman foul in the box.

Linfield's Jake Baker lined up for the PK with Contos on his line, centered between the posts. Contos read Baker's last step and dove to his left, actually beating Baker's low shot to the same spot at the line, deflecting away the attempt with his legs to keep Whitman on top.

Not even two minutes after Contos came up with his 10th save, he finished off his career afternoon with a save in the 86th as Whitman gained revenge for an overtime loss to the then-visiting Wildcats earlier in the season.

O'Keefe finished the day with five saves during a game in which his teammates out shot the visitors by a 25-14 margin.

Whitman rolls out of Saturday's victory into a Sunday conference match-up at Willamette University. Game time is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. start.