Linfield women’s and men’s soccer began their seasons with games on Aug. 29 and Aug. 31, but they took place in locations as different as the start of their seasons.
Women’s soccer began playing in Santa Cruz, Calif. with ties against UC Santa Cruz and East Texas Baptist. Men’s soccer began up north, playing Macalester College and Augsburg University in the twin cities in Minnesota. Both men’s games were losses, while both games for the women were ties.
Those two ties were the only games thus far the women’s team haven’t won. They won their home opener against Warner Pacific 5-2 on Sept. 5, and then beat Redlands at home 2-0 two days later. Senior sports management major Lize Rendon scored in both games for the Wildcats.
They then won two games on a weekend conference road trip. Linfield beat Pacific 3-0 in Forest Grove on Sept. 12 and followed it up with a 4-1 win against Willamette in Salem on Sept. 14. Rendon scored twice against Pacific and senior biochemistry and molecular biology major Reese Jones scored twice against Willamette.
Linfield currently sits atop of the Northwest Conference (NWC) standings, and Rendon won last week’s student-athlete of the week award. Rendon leads the team in goals with four. Junior management major Amalia Tufts and senior sports management and economics major Mia Curtaz are tied for the team lead in assists with three apiece. Tufts and Curtaz also are tied for the NWC lead in assists.
The men have not had as much of a successful start. They lost a weekend homestand against Pomona-Pitzer and Warner Pacific by scores of 1-3 and 0-2 respectively. Senior business management major Evan Stafford had the Wildcats lone goal for the weekend.
The Wildcats also faced Pacific and Willamette the following weekend, losing 0-1 and 1-2 respectively. This time, freshman business and marketing major Oliver Blanchard had the lone goal for the weekend. Linfield sits in last place in the conference standings at 0-6.
The third week of conference play begins this weekend, as both teams will play Whitman on Saturday and Whitworth on Sunday at home. The women will look to continue their success and extend a lead in conference play, while the men will look to get their first win of the season.
