SALEM, Ore. – It was a first in a few different aspects Sunday as Whitman College's men's soccer team collected its first win of the season. It was also Coach Jose Cedeno's first win as the head coach of the program and it was the first time since September 28 of last year that the Missionaries held the opponent scoreless. Whitman's Park Harmon scored in the 73rd minute to life the Missionaries to a 1-0 win over Willamette Sunday afternoon.
 
Willamette fired the first shot of the game in the seventh minute, but Jesse Thompson's shot missed wide right and gave Whitman a chance at the other end. However, Ben Freedman's shot missed high just before the nine minute mark.
 
Whitman goalkeeper, Milo Cantor, had an outstanding game in which he collected five saves and allowed zero goals. In the tenth minute when Willamette's Jack Elton took a shot on goal, but Cantor was there for the save. The game began to get physical around the 23rd minute and yellow cards began to come out. Willamette's Austin Arnold, Sam Gonzalez and Matt Bauer and Whitman's Colin Faunt were all given yellows between the 23rd and 29th minute.
 
After Bauer's card, Whitman's Daniel Kim took a shot that was knocked away by a Bearcats defender; first year, Ridley Eastland-Fruit followed with a shot one minute later, but missed to the right. Eastland-Fruit was given a yellow card in the 34th minute, the games fifth in just an 11-minute span. The game entered the break scoreless and was proving to be a defensive game as both offenses struggled getting shots off.
 
The second half started similar to the first with each teams' defense excelling. The Missionaries had a great look in the 63rd minute as Noah Cavanaugh connected with Connor Welty on a corner kick; unfortunately, Welty's header was unsuccessful as Willamette goalkeeper, Braydon Calder gathered the save.
 
Finally in the 73rd minute Paal Nilsson found Harmon on a throw-in and Harmon connected with the net from the upper right corner of the penalty box, giving Whitman a 1-0 lead, its first lead of the season. Beginning at the 78th minute Willamette sent a fury of shots over a period of three minutes. The Bearcats recorded five shots in that time frame, one missed high and two others missed wide. Cantor collected two saves on back-to-back shots that came 24 seconds apart.
 
The game's seventh and final yellow card was given in the 81st minute to Bridger Sellegren, but Willamette was unable to make anything happen offensively as the Missionaries split their two road game, 1-1. Whitman will look to carry momentum into next weekend where they will play Saturday, Sunday against Pacific Lutheran and Puget Sound respectively. The games will be Whitman's first two home games of the year after the game against Walla Walla University was cancelled earlier this month.