MCMINNVILLE, Ore. – Looking to get their first win ever against the Linfield Wildcats, the Whittier Poets scored three in the second half being down 1-0 to beat the Wildcats on Saturday night.
The Wildcats fall to 1-2 on the season, while the Poets improved to 1-1 on the young 2019 season.
Linfield brought the pressure early, forcing Whittier to get in the way of some shots, but a great shot from
Henry Rosenfeld, off a deflection from the Whittier goalie, gave the Wildcats the early lead. It was the second goal of the season for the Albany, California native.
The Poets were able to get shots on the net but
Cameron Perron was able to save three shots in the first half and maintained the Wildcats' 1-0 lead at halftime.
Perron made his season debut on Friday night, he appeared in nine games a year ago.
The second half adjustments worked perfectly for the Poets, who scored tied the match on a goal by Banks Telkamp.
A kick from about 30 yards out by Hayden Barnouw of the Poets gave them their second goal of the game and the lead.
The Wildcats had a couple of chances to get back in the game, but fell just short on a header attempt by
Luke Marks and shot from about 8 yards out by
Dayton Farrow.
Looking to seal the game, the Poet scored their third in the 83
rd minute and went on to win this one 3-1.
The Poets outshot the Wildcats 13-12, including the 6-5 edge in shots on goals.
Both teams were aggressive throughout the match with hard fouls around the field and the game had to stopped multiple times for injuries after fouls. Both teams had 17 fouls in the game, with two Poets and
Romario Mendoza of the Wildcats receiving yellow cards.
Being plagued with the injury bug coming into the game, the Wildcats had even more injuries in this one with Chase Whitaker limping off the field and
Brian Huynh suffering a heads-on collision.
The Poets won their first game against the Wildcats, who still hold the all-time advantage, 3-1.
UP NEXT
Linfield concludes non-conference game with two home next weekend against Warner Pacific on Friday night and Walla Walla on Saturday afternoon.
