Wolves Make Significant Improvements, Fall 2-0 on Senior Night
Charlie Fletcher, Sports Writier
The Northwest Christian University Beacons (7-4-2, 3-3-2), beat the Wolves by a score of 2-0 tonight in College Place. The Beacons came into the game with a two game winning streak on the line, and were looking to keep building on that momentum vs. Walla Walla.
Both teams went back and forth during the early phases of the first half with neither team able to create a significant scoring chance. Adrian Palacios was then able to net a penalty kick for the Beacons after the Wolves committed a handball in the box. Palacios stepped up and calmly planted his kick into the bottom right corner. Northwest scored again after Tony Acala took advantage of a one-on-one against the Wolves' goalkeeper Josh Frye. Both teams played good defense for the rest of the first half, and they headed into the break with Northwest still up 2-0.
Both teams played well on defense during the first several minutes of the second half. Walla Walla would be the ones to threaten first, however, with a couple of shots on goal in the 55th and 58th minutes. Josh Frye upped his intensity in goal during the second half, making three crucial saves to keep the game competitive at 2-0 in the 70th minute. The Beacons continued to put pressure on the Wolves defense but they never cracked, playing even with Northwest for the remainder of the match.
After the match, Wolves head coach William Burns had high praise for his departing seniors, saying "you can see their contribution, you can see how they're leading by example, how they're directing out there, they're like mini coaches." When asked about how to build on this strong performance, Coach Burns said, "There are small things we need to clean up, but other than that we need to stay focused, stay hungry, and finish this season strong."
The Wolves will be in Portland, Oregon for their next match against Multnomah University on October 22 at 8:00p.m.