McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Unable to find a shot all game long, the visiting George Fox University Bruins dropped a 2-0 decision to the Linfield College Wildcats, who strengthened their hold on first place in the Northwest Conference women's soccer standings, Saturday afternoon here at the Linfield soccer field.

With its fifth straight victory, Linfield avenged an early-season 1-1 tie with the Bruins while improving to 11-2-2 overall and 8-1-2 in the conference.  The Wildcats now have 26 points on the season to 23 for the second-place University of Puget Sound.  George Fox slid to 2-8-4 overall and 2-6-2 in the NWC.

Stephanie Socoth notched her first goal of the season to put the Wildcats up 1-0 in the 28th minute. She gained possession of the ball amidst a crowd in front of the goal and tapped it into the left side of the net. Bruin keeper Alyssa Montero, who had slipped and fallen on the muddy field, could do little to stop the ball from going in.

The closest George Fox came to a scoring opportunity in the first half was a corner kick with two minutes remaining on the clock, but the kick was placed too high and long for anyone to make a good play.

Defensively, it was more of the same in the second period. While George Fox was at least in the vicinity of the goal in the late stages of the game, the Bruins could not get a single good look at the net.  Conversely, Linfield took seven shots over the final 45 minutes on its way to a 12-0 shot advantage for the game.

MacKenzie Doty provided an insurance goal for the Wildcats with 32 seconds remaining, capitalizing on a one-on-one opportunity with Montero and punching the ball into the top right corner of the net.

Montero faced 12 shots in all, making six saves for the Bruins.  Linfield goalie Apolonia Martinez earned her fourth consecutive shutout while having to make no stops.

NEXT: George Fox visits Whitworth University while Linfield hosts Puget Sound Saturday, both games starting at 12:00 noon.