Knights Slay Streaking Boxers In Season Opener
Box Score
FOREST GROVE - Warner Pacific withstood a second half surge to pull away from Pacific in a 3-0 victory at Lincoln Park Stadium Thursday night.
Jordan Selland scored a goals and had an assist for the Knights (1-1-0), an NAIA power from the Cascade Conference located in east Portland. The season-opening loss snapped Pacific's three year home winning streak.
Senior forward Alija Sacirovic notched the first goal of the match in the 13th minute after a failed clearance by the Boxers (0-1-0) led to an open goal. Sacirovic took a feed from Selland, who had drawn Pacific's starting goalkeeper
Chris Reimer (Soph., Ferndale, Wash.) off his line. Despite two Boxer defenders retreating to the vacated goal line, Sacirovic was able to drive a shot just under the crossbar to give Warner Pacific an early 1-0 lead.
The Knights had the better run of play in the first half, outshooting the Boxers 9-3 with four shots on goal, but the score remained 1-0 despite Pacific's best efforts in the final five minutes of the period.
With Pacific held without a shot on goal for the first 40 minutes of the match, midfielder
Patrick Murray (Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.) received a ball deep in the Knights' box, but was unable to turn and set to get a shot away. Just a minute later, the Boxers appeared to have leveled the match when
Victor Wilson (Sr., Juneau, Alaska) rocketed a shot from 15 yards that deflected off the keeper to 6-foot-7 forward
Devin Shull (So., Seattle, Wash.), who powered the ball into the back of the net. The celebration was short-lived as an offsides call nullified the score, keeping Warner Pacific in front.
Pacific would nearly score two more times in the final minute of the half. Midfielder
Kody Ganiko (Jr., Makawao, Hawaii) chipped a ball toward the upper left corner of goal, where Knights goalkeeper Drew Bonifacio made a fantastic punch save while crashing into the post. Just before the halftime horn, Shull's volley deflection near the left post went into the side netting.
The Boxers seemed to carry the momentum of that final five minutes into the second half and were able to create a couple of early scoring opportunities. But, Murray's strong penetration through the middle got stuffed by a crowd led by Bonifacio, who showed tremendous range and anticipation as well as a powerful leg on punts and goal kicks.
At the 49-minute mark, Wilson just missed a shot on a cross to the far post by
Conor Peterhans (Sr., Seattle, Wash.).
Having withstood Pacific's best offensive rally of the night, Warner Pacific took a 2-0 lead in the 57th minute on an outstanding individual effort by senior defender Jordan Selland, who dribbled past two defenders to open space on the left side of the box and finished powerfully with the left foot.
Freshman forward Almir Celebic put the game out of reach in the 70th minute with a close-range volley off a cross from Tarik Subasic to put Warner Pacific up 3-0.
The Boxers last loss at Lincoln Park Stadium came to the Knights in 2008. Since that 2-1 defeat, the Boxers played 25 consecutive home matches without a defeat until Thursday's loss.
Pacific will have ample opportunity to create a new streak in the month of September, opening the season with six consecutive games at home. It gets no easier for the Boxers, as another strong opponent comes to town when UC Santa Cruz visits Forest Grove for a Labor Day matchup on Monday, September 5th at 2 p.m.
