Pirates sail away, blue skies return

Gabriel Nair and Alex Jensen

The Wildcats came up short against both the Whitman Blues and the Whitworth Pirates this past weekend. Linfield played against the Pirates on Saturday with an end result of 3-0. The Wildcats then went up against the Blues, losing 2-0.

The first two goals of the game took place by Pirates’ Moi Diaz at minute 3:27 and 26:29. The first half score was 0-2.

At the beginning of the second half, the Wildcats had a chance to score, but Captain Dylan Shepherd, ’18, just barely missed, sending the ball over the crossbar.

A minute later, the Pirates were awarded a penalty kick after Diaz was taken down in the box. Pirates’ John Snyder was able to put the ball in the back of net, past Wildcats goalkeeper, Eli Peckham, ’18.

Diaz is a former Wildcat and McMinnville native who now plays for Whitworth. He transferred after the 2015 season.

“For both games, we couldn’t quite get the job done. We made little mistakes that cost us. But we fought hard together as a team,” Austin Bebee, ’18, said about the games this weekend. Sunday’s game was pretty even for the first part of the half against the Blues but goalkeeper Nick Van Kleek, ’20, was unable to save a shot from 20 yards away. Van Kleek could have saved the ball cleanly if Bebee did not deflect it. The goal happened at minute 27:15.

Almost 3 minutes later, Blues Austin Betschart scored the final goal of the game from inside the box. “The disappointing results don’t tell the full story. We did some good things, but couldn’t piece it all together. I do believe we are getting closer and closer to putting it all together and demonstrating our true potential,” Bebee said.

Linfield’s overall record is 2-11 and conference record is 0-9.

The Wildcats play away next weekend against the Pacific University Boxers noon, Saturday in Forest Grove and The George Fox Bruins noon, Sunday in Newberg.