NEWBERG, Ore. – A goal by Linfield College's Nicholas Autencio in the 74th minute broke a 1-1 tie and turned out to be enough to lift the visiting Wildcats past the George Fox University Bruins 2-1 in a closely-contested Northwest Conference men's soccer match Saturday afternoon here at the Austin Sports Complex.

Autencio's goal, his third of the season, came after a well-placed through ball from Chris Musser streaking down the middle of the field to Autencio running parallel on the right side of the keeper's box.  Autencio was able to beat his defender and angle the game-winner into the far left corner past Bruin keeper Ricardo Sotelo.

The Wildcats opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game when Domenico Del Prete nailed an indirect free kick following a George Fox foul from 25 yards out near the left corner of the keeper's box into the far right corner.  It was his third goal of the season.

The Bruins answered at the 10:19 mark.  Luke Hammer received the ball just inside the top of the box, turned, and fired a bullet toward the net that was blocked but not controlled by Linfield goalie Jorge Rodriguez.  The ball rebounded toward the left side of the box, where Tyler Dyck recovered the loose ball and knocked it back into the net as Rodriguez recovered too late to make another stop.  It was the first goal of the season for Dyck.

Both teams have several good chances to score before Linfield finally got the winner.  Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Wildcats fired three shots in the space of three minutes, only to have Sotelo earn saves on every one of them.  The Bruins had an opportunity to go ahead in the 70th minute when Hammer headed a ball from left to right in the box for Angelo Florez, who hooked a shot around a Linfield defender that hit the right post and deflected out of bounds. 

After the 'Cats took the second-half lead, the Bruins had their best shot at a tie when Hammer split two defenders and sent a liner from about 10 yards out toward the left corner.  Rodriguez dove seemingly out of nowhere to get his right hand on it just enough to deflect the shot outside the post.  Hammer had a final shot in the last minute but had it blocked, and the Wildcats ran out the clock.

Final statistics showed how evenly the two Yamhill County rivals competed.  George Fox held a slight 18-17 edge in total shots and had a 6-4 edge in corner kicks, while Linfield owned an 8-6 margin in shots on goal.  Hammer and Linfield's Brian DeGrandmont led their respective teams with five shots apiece.  The Bruins committed more fouls, 15-10, but the Wildcats were whistled for offsides twice, the Bruins none.

In the net, Sotelo finished with six saves for George Fox, while Rodriguez saved five shots for Linfield.

NEXT: George Fox (1-10, NWC 0-5) remains at home to host Willamette University on Saturday while hoping to end a nine-game losing skid … Linfield visits Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore., on Saturday … Both games begin at 2:30 p.m.