MCMINNVILLE, ORE. – On a sloppy field on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the Whitman Blues downed the Linfield Wildcats 5-0 in a Northwest Conference matchup.
Linfield falls to 3-4 on the season and 1-1 in conference play, while Whitman improves to 4-4 and 1-1 in conference play.
The Blues had the first five shots of the game and were rewarded for their early aggressiveness on a goal by Jourdan Furukawa in the 16
th minute.
Linfield was able to get the ball into the Whitman half and had two clear angles at the goal by
Isaias Flores and
Marques Herrera-Kuehn, but both shots went wide.
The Blues poured three more goals in the first half to blow the game wide open. The Wildcats back line was not able to chase down the Blues attackers.
The best chance to score for the Wildcats came early in the second half came from
Romario Mendoza, who missed the net by mere inches.
With the backup,
Julian Inches in the net for the Wildcats, the Blues added another goal in the second half.
Starting goalkeeper for Linfield,
Cameron Perron had five saves while the Whitman goalie, Owen Davis-Bower had three.
The sloppy field took its toll on the Wildcats, as the team leader in goals,
Cesar Cruz-Espindola missed the majority of the second half after landing awkwardly on the field.
Henry Rosenfeld had two of the three Wildcats' shots on goal on Sunday, but were acrobatic saves by the Blues' Davis-Bower.
This is the first time that the Wildcats were shutout this season, the last time they were hold scoreless was against the Blues on October 2018, the final score of that game was also 5-0.
Linfield allowed 23 shots in the game and only had 12 of its own.
This game breaks a dreadlock in the all-time head to head for the two NWC squads as Whitman now leads it 26-25-2. Linfield has lost five straight against Whitman.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats go on the road for the first time in 2019 at the George Fox Bruins next Saturday at noon. Their next home game is next Sunday at noon against Puget Sound.
