Kurtis Williams
Review staff writer
The men’s soccer team hit the road Oct. 18-19 for games against conference foes Whitman College and Whitworth University, the top two teams in the Northwest Conference.
In the first 45 minutes of the game the Linfield and Whitman were deadlocked at zero. Linfield had more luck on offense in the first half, outshooting the Missionaries 5-3, despite having forward and leading goal scorer Kyle Wallace on the bench because of an accumulation of yellow cards.
In the 57th minute, the game started to take an unlucky turn for Linfield as senior Bryan Alford accidentally handled the ball inside the 18-yard box. For this infraction, Whitman was awarded a penalty kick, Alford was shown a red card and Linfield was reduced to 10 men for the remaining 30
minutes.
The penalty kick save was not too daunting for sophomore goalkeeper Jon Thompson. He had to face Whitman senior captain Stephen Phillips from 12 yards.
“Normally, you can tell by the player’s body and positioning where he is going,” Thompson said. “But I stared him down for a little bit to get into his head. I guess it worked because he missed it over the bar.”
It wouldn’t take long for Whitman’s man advantage to take a toll on the ‘Cats. A strike from senior forward Marc Nabelek in the 60th minute gave Whitman a 1-0 lead it would not relinquish.
Despite having more offensive pressure in the first half, Whitman came out of its halftime team talk outfiring Linfield 10-4 in the second half, and 13-9 overall. Thompson made six saves while his counterpart senior Brett Axelrod made two.
The second game proved to be just as heartbreaking. Against conference leaders Whitworth, the ‘Cats netted the first goal in the 21st minute. Wallace, who received another yellow card, picked out his strike partner junior forward Kurtis Wong to put Linfield ahead 1-0.
The two have provided most of the offense for the Wildcats this year. Wong doesn’t mind working with a freshman.
“It’s fun,” Wong said. “[Wallace] is a real good player, and it’s fun to work with him because he makes the job a lot easier.”
The Wildcat defense held the lead until the second half, when, in the 67th minute, senior Caleb Barnhill connected on his league-leading 10th goal of the year.
Tying the Pirates would have been a great feat for the struggling team, but it was not to be.
Barnhill passed the ball to junior Elly Bulega, who found the back of Linfield’s net with a minute and a half left of the clock. With not enough time to mount a comeback, Linfield again saw itself on the wrong side of the score sheet with a 2-1 loss. Wong said the hardest thing about the way the season has progressed is being hopeful and close in most games before having some late letdowns.
“The coaches have told us we’re better than what’s been happening; we’re just getting unlucky,”
Wong said.
Thompson, who was subbed after the goal for a slight injury, said he doesn’t mind splitting time with junior Joe Locascio.
“There’s no one and two,” Thompson said. “The way Joe and I feel is we just try to push each other every week in practice. I’m glad it at least gives me a chance where he could start just because he’s a junior. If I practice well, I’ll be able to play and show my skills.”
Outside of the nets, Wong said he feels the same way about his forward comrades and changes made during the game.
“The [substitutions] don’t really matter because everyone works well together, and everyone brings something else to the table,” Wong said. “No matter who’s in the game at a certain time, we’re still going to be strong.”
The Oct. 26 home game against Pacific University begins at 7 p.m.
