Box
Score
NEWBERG, Ore. - A difficult season filled with enough medical
problems to cause 10 players to miss all or parts of the year came
to a close for the George Fox University Bruins at the hands of
their Yamhill County rivals, the Linfield College Wildcats, who
coasted to a 6-0 win in the Northwest Conference men's soccer
finale for both teams Saturday afternoon here at Morse Field.
Linfield struck early and often in building up a 4-0 lead in the
first 26 minutes. Peter Hong's corner kick was put in by Spencer
Hunter, his second goal of the season, at 7:36 to get the Wildcats
going. Six minutes later, Hong got a goal of his own, his first,
after a pass from Nick Jauregui. Derek Ponce assisted on Roland
Mason's first goal of the year at the 25:28 mark, and Kurtis Wong
notched his third goal 37 seconds later after a feed from Jacob
Burger.
Hoping to start a comeback, the Bruins thought they had ruined
the shutout when Peter Luginbill slid in and knocked home a goal
after a crossing pass from Erich Hangartner at the 55:04 point in
the second half, only to have the shot nullified by an offside
call. Taking advantage of the reprieve, the Wildcats made it 5-0
with a goal by Zach Hubbard off an assist from Burger 28 seconds
later, and finished off the scoring two minutes after that with a
goal by Kevin Donato, assisted by Bryan Alford. It was Hubbard's
second goal of the season and the first for Donato.
Despite the lopsided score, the match was fairly evenly
contested, Linfield holding only an 18-17 edge in shots and 12-8 in
shots on goal. George Fox won the corner kick battle 5-4. The big
discrepancy was in the offside category, where the Wildcats were
caught too far ahead 11 times to only twice for the Bruins. Mike
Belzberg had eight saves in goal for Linfield while posting his
seventh shutout, while George Fox keeper Kyle Putnam had six.
Three Bruins were making the final appearances of their
four-year careers: midfielder Erich Hangartner, who finished with
nine goals, nine assists, and 27 points in his career; midfielder
Ryan MacKenzie, who ended with nine goals, three assists, and 21
points; and Putnam, who recorded 296 saves, three shutouts, and the
sixth-best goals against average in Bruin history of 2.02.
George Fox ends the season with a 3-13-3 overall record and a
conference mark of 1-10-3 for seventh in the league standings.
Linfield finishes at 9-8-1 overall and in sixth place in the NWC at
5-8-1.
