The Linfield Wildcats played the game of their lives Saturday afternoon against Pacific Lutheran. The game ended in double-overtime 2-2 tie.

The Lutes held possession a majority of the game. However, Linfield’s two goals came from the last seventeen minutes of the game. Linfield was outshot 28-12.

Pacific Lutheran got on the scoreboard early after a penalty kick making the game 1-0. Goalkeeper Sarah Bailey, ’19, the Northwest Conference Defensive Player of the Week, finished with 11 saves on the day.

The first goal came from Shelby DeRocher, ’18, 18-yards out of the box off a pass from Dani Nurmi, ’17. The ball soared into the goal, the Lutes goalkeeper attempted to punch it out, but did not reach the ball.

In the dramatic final minute of regulation time, playing from the right side of the box, Baylie Cameron, ’20, sent the ball arching for a near goal. Then Taylor Cole, ’20, surprised the Lutes goalkeeper and defender and headed the ball in to make the score 2-2 to proceed to overtime to keep the Wildcats in contention.

The Lutes held the advantage in shots in overtime just like in regulation, but neither team could score to determine a winner and loser, thus a tie 2-2 to end the day.

Bailey was pleased with how the team performed on the day.

“We came out strong and then kind of just went through the motions until the second half when we picked it up. It was really great to see the energy from the bench and see how much that helped everyone else,” she said.

Bailey also commented on the overtime portion of the game, “We have a bit of bad luck when it comes to over time and we worked really hard.”

“We are pretty happy with a tie because it shows that we are getting better and that we held strong throughout the game,” she said.

In one instance in overtime, Bailey was attempting to save the ball from a near-girl by Pacific Lutheran.

Bailey and another defender, Annie Ferguson, ’19, nearly collided. “We were both trying to avoid a goal and Annie and I collided, because we were both focused on the ball and not each other,” Bailey said.

The Wildcats looked to bounce back after a double-overtime game the previous day, but had no such luck. This time against George Fox with another double-overtime to conclude in a tie once again, the game ending after a solid 120 minutes of playing with the score of 1-1.

In the first half, in the 20th minute, Karlee Willcox, ‘17, headed the ball into the goal unassisted.

Late in the second half, in the 80th minute, the Bruins decided to pick up the pace and even the score. The ball was shot over the goalkeeper’s head and into the back of the net.

The game went double overtime and neither team could put together a goal, ending the game at 1-1.

Linfield achieved seven corner kicks to George Fox’s three. Linfield and George Fox were fairly even on shots, Linfield with 20 and George Fox with 16. Goalkeeper Danyell Walling, ‘20, made her freshman debut and had 8 saves on the day.

The Wildcats are 2-4-2 overall and 2-0-2 in NWC play.

Next up, the Linfield Wildcats travel to Forest Grove, Oregon to face the Pacific University boxers for an evening game scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday.