FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 9th, 2026
College Place, Wash.| The Warner Pacific University men's soccer team earned a hard-fought road victory on Friday afternoon, defeating Walla Walla University 1-0 to get their first conference win of the season.
After a hard-fought first half that saw both sides battle through aggressive play and physical defense, the Knights and Wolves headed into the break in a 0-0 tie. Warner Pacific was dominant in the first half, outshooting Walla Walla 4-2 in the opening period and keeping pressure on Wolves.
The Knights finally took the lead early in the second half. In the 51st minute, when Chris Marcial-Cruz came off the bench ready to go finding the back of the net to give Warner Pacific a 1-0 lead. The unassisted goal stood as the match-winner as the Knights' defense locked down the wolves offense.
Marcial-Cruz led the efficient Warner Pacific attack with his game-winning goal, coming off the bench to play 22 minutes. Bryan Jimenez, Luis (Wicho) Gonzalez, Julio Andrade, and Ethan Zavala each added shots. In goal, Owen Purvis went the full distance, making one key save to complete the clean sheet and secure the shutout victory.
"Securing three points on the road is a good first step in gaining momentum towards where we hope to be heading into the second half of conference play," head coach Troy Ready said. "We'll return to training this coming week with an ambition to keep improving."
Next Up
With the much needed win the knights now move to 1-3 in conference play and with six games remaining in the season they get a chance to add on to the win column. They will get it going next Friday as they come back home and face off against Evergreen state college at the Eastside Timbers sports complex with kickoff at 2:30pm.
