Bryan Irwin

PORTLAND, Ore. --- Portland junior Bryan Irwin and freshman Ryan Luke each scored twice as the Pilots scored a season-high five times for a 5-2 win over the Loyola Marymount Lions in a West Coast Conference men’s soccer game Sunday afternoon at Merlo Field. Portland senior Ryan Oakes handed out three assists, while junior Alex Elliott recorded two.

Elliott leads the conference with seven assists this fall.

The Pilots improve to 5-4-3 overall on the season and to 2-1-2 in the conference. LMU drops to 2-7-1 (0-3-0 WCC).

LMU played a majority of the game a man-down, after Nick Blanco was shown a red card in the 27th minute. Blanco appeared to give Elliott a forearm to the face while Elliott was laying on the ground.

After entering halftime tied at 1-1, the Pilots exploded for four second-half strikes, but not before falling behind 2-1 to the short-handed Lions. In the 56th minute LMU’s Stephen Carlson gave the Lions a one-goal lead when he converted on a pass from Blayze Hanson.

The Pilots equalized nine minutes later on Irwin’s second goal of the game. Oakes sent a perfectly placed cross into the mixer, finding Irwin directly in front of the LMU goal. Irwin headed it in for his third goal this season. Irwin also scored the equalizer in the first half on pass from Elliott. Down 1-0 in the 22nd minute, Elliott fed Irwin in open space just inside the 18-yard box. Irwin rifled a shot that hit the crossbar on the short side, bounced straight down and crossed the goaline.

After Irwin’s second equalizer, Luke scored his first goal to give Portland its first lead of the game. Sophomore Collen Warner fed Luke with a through ball down route one. Luke finished with a shot that grazed the left post before finding the net, giving UP a 3-2 lead.

Five minutes later, Warner scored his second goal of the season, making it a 4-2 game. Oakes hit Warner in open space, just inside the top, left corner of the box. Warner took a touch before burying the shot into the right corner of the net.

Luke then capped the scoring with another strike in the 81st minute, with Oakes and Elliott both picking up another assist. Elliott started the play by feeding Oakes in open space inside the top, right corner of the goalie box. Oakes one-touched a cross to Luke, who finished with a defender on his hip.

“That was a great win for us,” Bryan Irwin said. “It was good to finally get some goals. We played well, for the most part, and things went our way.”

The Pilots finished with 15 shots, while LMU countered with 11. UP also held a slim 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.

Pilots’ freshman keeper Austin Guerrero made three saves during the match. LMU’s Patrick Sampson, in his first start of the season, finished with four stops.

Portland next takes the pitch on the road with a match at Santa Clara on Thursday, Oct. 19 at 8:00 p.m.