Whitman’s men’s soccer has spent the fall rewriting its own history. With a 3-1 win over Pacific Lutheran University on the final afternoon of the regular season, the Blues claimed their first outright Northwest Conference championship and secured the program’s inaugural berth in the NCAA Division III Tournament. Beyond a mere statistic, the Blues’ unbeaten record (14-0-6 overall, 13-0-3 in NWC) and the highest point total in NWC history (42 points) is a statement about a team that refused to break, even when tested.
On a tense Sunday, Nov. 9 at East Field, Whitman’s nerves showed early against Pacific Lutheran with the NWC title on the line. Pacific Lutheran struck first, converting a penalty late in the opening half. But the Blues responded in the style that has come to define their season, with first-year attacking midfielder Remy Marcks slotting home the equalizer off a setup from junior attacking midfielder Riki Kobayashi.
“The competitive environment that we have has been the key,” junior defender Alex Perez Hernandez said. “At practice meetings, we’re always trying to push each other [and] better everyone on the team. This year has been really different … everyone’s trying to do the best they can; everyone’s putting in 100 percent effort.”
After halftime, Whitman took control. The Blues outshot the Lutes 30-12, pulled ahead on a strike from first-year forward William Miranda-Ortiz and sealed the win on a penalty kick from senior attacking midfielder Lucas McAllister. From there, junior goalkeeper Niclas Isensee and his back line carried the team across the finish line and into program history.
For a team chasing its first outright title since sharing the 2018 crown, the significance of the victory was immediate. The championship guaranteed Whitman the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, sending the Blues to Texas for their opening-round matchup against the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 15 at Paul McGinlay Field. The Bulldogs (12-4-3) enter as Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champions and will be making their first NCAA appearance since 2019.
For sophomore defensive midfielder Seamus Kelly, the emotional weight of Sunday’s win was unmistakable.
“When the full-time whistle blew, I found myself with tears rolling down my face,” Kelly said. “As somebody who hasn’t been playing this year, it meant just as much for me as it did anybody else, but I was especially happy for the upperclassmen … who’ve been working so hard for years to get to where they have today.”
Kelly emphasized that the group’s strength stems from its chemistry and daily standards.
“We all want the best from each other and we all demand it every session, every practice, every game,” Kelly said. “We hold each other accountable … we’re willing to help each other be the best version of ourselves.”
That unity has surfaced often in close matches. Several times this season, including versus Lewis & Clark and George Fox, the Blues fell behind early, only to claw back late. Perez Hernandez pointed to the team’s preseason tests as a preview of that resilience.
“Every game, we went down early … and we always came back, scored late-minute goals,” Perez Hernandez said. “That really showed we have a lot of grit. We don’t give up until the whistle is blown.”
But the win against Pacific Lutheran (PLU) — on the final day of the regular season with everything at stake — was different.
“[The team’s resilience] felt like a reason that we knew we were going to get it done,” McAllister said. “PLU was the biggest game.”
Across the whole roster, players noted that this mindset has carried them through each week. Instead of watching the standings or chasing undefeated status, they focused on the next match.
“We take every game serious, and we take it one game at a time,” Perez Hernandez said. “We weren’t even thinking about the PLU game … we thought, ‘oh, we have Puget [Sound] first.’”
That mentality extends into the NCAA Tournament. Kelly said the team prepared by sharpening familiar strengths rather than reinventing itself.
“We have built a really good base of how we play and our culture as a team,” Kelly said. “We just refine our game plan slightly to match teams that we face … and do our best to work on our strengths and break down their weaknesses.”
Although the stakes are high heading into the tournament, Whitman seniors are proud of the season they’ve already delivered. Now, they want to see just how far it can go.
“At this point, we just want to keep going and have fun,” McAllister said. “It’s me and all the other seniors’ last season, and we’ve already achieved so much, but we’re honestly looking to just keep rolling, have fun and [not] take it for granted.”
Whitman’s postseason run, however, came to an end sooner than the team had hoped. In their NCAA Tournament debut, the Blues mounted a late surge but ultimately fell 3-2 to Texas Lutheran in the opening round, ending their historic season.
Though the loss closed the door on their championship aspirations, the results of the NWC All-Conference awards left no doubt about the Blues’ utter dominance in that department. All four major award categories — Coach of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year — were swept by Whitman, with Jose Cedeno, Lucas McAllister, Adrian Valencia and Remy Marcks earning each, respectively. 11 players made appearances on All-NWC teams as well, with four players on first team (GK Niclas Isensee, D Adrian Valencia, M Lucas McAllister, F Remy Marcks), five players on second team (D Pablo Gonzalez Jr., D Alexander Perez Hernandez, M Riki Kobayashi, M Jude Clum-Stockton, F Fernando Lopez-Vega), and two players on third team (F Kevin Serrano, F William Miranda Ortiz).
The Blues depart the national stage having delivered one of the most memorable campaigns in program history: its first outright NWC title, its first trip to the NCAA Tournament and a standard that future Whitman teams will chase.
