Box Score
FOREST GROVE, ORE. – One of the smallest players in the Northwest Conference made an awfully big shot on Sunday, keeping Linfield in the women's soccer title hunt.
Sophomore midfielder Christine Tamamoto, all 4-foot-10 of her, took a deflected ball off a corner kick and drilled the game-winning goal in the 82
nd minute giving the Wildcats a 1-0 victory over the Boxers.
McKenzie Doty's shot seconds earlier was deflected over the end line by Pacific goalkeeper
Brittany Hartmann (Jr., Portland, Ore.), setting up the corner kick that led to the only goal of the match. Pacific would not get another shot off as Linfield (5-1-2 NWC, 8-2-2 overall) kept pace with league-leading Puget Sound, just two points back in the NWC standings having already handed the Loggers their only conference loss.
The Boxers (3-4-1, 6-5-1) needed at least one win against the two conference powers this weekend to stay in the upper division. Unfortunately, with leading scorer
Jordan Bodily (Sr., Eagle, Idaho) sidelined by an ankle injury, Pacific was unable to generate a goal in a pair of losses to Puget Sound and Linfield. The Wildcats were also without their star forward Emily Fellows, who missed her fifth consecutive match with an injury.
Pacific did maintain a scoreless draw into the final ten minutes and played relatively even-up with the resurgent Wildcats, who have never finished higher than third in the NWC standings. Linfield began to take over the game late, holding the Boxers without a shot or a corner kick over the final 18 minutes of the match, while outshooting Pacific 7-4 in the second half after an evenly played first 45 minutes.
Hartmann finished with eight saves for the Boxers, while
Kailee Green (Fr., Hillsboro, Ore.) led all field players with four shots, putting four on goal. Each team was efficient, with Pacific putting six of its 10 shots on frame, while Linfield targeted 9 of 13 shots. Linfield's sophomore goalkeeper Apolonia Martinez recorded her fifth shutout of the season with six saves.
The Boxers stay on the road this week, beginning the second half of NWC play at George Fox on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.
