McMINNVILLE, Ore. – The Linfield men's soccer team was celebrating Homecoming, but it was all Willamette as the Wildcats lost 4-0 to the Bearcats on Saturday afternoon at the Linfield University Soccer and Lacrosse Complex.
The Bearcats exploded with three goals in the first half to set the tone. Junior Pierce Gallaway opened the scoring in the 10
th minute, registering his third goal of the season after Linfield failed to clear a corner kick by senior Ryan Sato.
It didn't take long for the Bearcats to score again as sophomore Sean Kim struck in the 12
th minute from just outside the box. He fired the ball into the bottom right corner of the net off an assist by senior Jack Moothart. Senior Mack van der Velde followed with another goal in the 20
th, unassisted, to send the Bearcats into halftime with a commanding lead.
Senior Omar Dominguez Pascasio scored the fourth goal for the Bearcats in the 77
th minute, unassisted. It was his first goal of the season.
Willamette kept the ball in Linfield territory for most of the match, finishing with 31 shots and 15 shots on goal while limiting the Wildcats to just two shots, one on goal. The Bearcats also had nine corner kicks to keep the pressure on the Wildcats.
The two players registering shots for the Wildcats were junior defender
Ronan Krutzikowsky and junior midfielder
Shoma Okita. Okita had the team's lone shot on goal. Sophomore
Logan Clizer and freshmen
Patrick Moes,
Bridger Tautvydas and
Keegan Brooks all played the full 90 minutes for the Wildcats.
Willamette kept Linfield goalkeeper
Julian Inches busy. The junior played the entire 90 minutes, finishing with 11 saves. Inches dropped to 0-4-1 in goal this season.
NEXT
Linfield is 1-9-1 overall and 0-6-1 in Northwest Conference play. The Wildcats will head to Tacoma next week to begin the second half of conference play, playing at Puget Sound on Saturday and Pacific Lutheran on Sunday. Both matches start at 2:30 p.m.
