The Wildcats faced the nationally ranked Pacific Lutheran Lutes and were pounced on early. The final score 4-0 in the Lutes favor. The undefeated Lutes held the Wildcats to three shots in the entire game. The Lutes were able to hold onto their first place Northwest Conference standings on Saturday afternoon.

“I think that they just came out aggressive and ready to play and we weren’t prepared and couldn’t find our rhythm. Once we were down a goal we started to get down on ourselves,” Goalkeeper Sarah Bailey, ‘18, said.

Pacific Lutheran’s Rachel Ross, ‘19, scored early in the game in the fourth minute from a cross kick making the game 1-0. Then Ross scored a second time in the second half in the 51st minute, assisted by Liz Griffith, ‘19.

In the 55th minute, a goal was made off of a corner kick. The goal came from Machaela Graddy, ‘18 assisted by Lena Moreno, ‘17 notching the score 3-0.

The final score came from Kristi Kaneta, ‘18 off of another corner kick shot by Moreno in the 71st minute.

The Lutes outshot the Wildcats 25 to 3. Pacific Lutheran also had more corner kick opportunities than Linfield, the Lutes with 14 and Linfield with one.

Linfield went shotless in the first half of the game, but tried to turn things around with Karlee Willcox, ‘17, Annie Ferguson, ‘19, and Emily Schump, ‘18, supplying the three shots on the day.

“PLU is a strong team with a very complicated offensive strategy. All around the field, our team wasn’t able to hold possession long enough to break their offensive rhythm,” Midfielder Taylor Cole, ‘20, said.

“As a team, we could have held better possession to create more opportunities for ourselves,” Taylor concluded.

Bailey had six shots on the day as the goalkeeper.

Linfield looked to bounce back at home against the George Fox Bruins. They came out with a much-needed victory in order to bounce back from the previous day’s loss with the win 1-0.

“We came out strong and were ready to play today. We looked like we had a flow and things started to come into place,” Bailey said.

In the 63rd minute, a kick from Mary Cait Moriarty, ‘20, to Shelby DeRocher, ‘18 notched a goal for the Linfield Wildcats making the score 1-0.

The Wildcats and Bruins were fairly even on possession and shots in this matchup.

“For George Fox, I think we really fought back for a good win today. It was all about energy and desire. I am really proud of our team today,” Cole said.

The Linfield Wildcats are 5-8-3 overall and 5-4-3 in Northwest Conference action. Next up, they play Pacific under the lights at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26. Then, they travel to face the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington on Sunday, October 30. The game is scheduled for noon.

“To finish the season strong, we are working to try and play our game, rather than adjust to the way our opponents play. We want to have solid wins and again, the desire to win,” Taylor said.