Box Score McMINNVILLE, Ore.  – NCU's opening game went into the loss column on Thursday night, falling to Linfield College, 2-0.
 
The Beacons were out-shot 12-8 in the game and had just three shots-on-goal as the Wildcats scored once in each half for the victory.
 
The first game of the season had glimpses of strength for head coach Jessica Cardwell. "Our defense played pretty well tonight and we had a lot of quality individual performances all over the field.
 
With the season still in its infancy, however, there is still plenty of opportunity for growth. "We just didn't work as a unit," said Cardwell. "That caused a lot of separation between our defense, mids, and forwards and Linfield was able to capitalize on that. We put in a ton of effort and the girls worked hard but we couldn't turn it into anything because we weren't together in our effort."
 
Linfield struck first in the 18^th minute as Taylor Cole punched home a cross from Emma Smith from six-yards out. The second goal came in the 56^th minute when Desirae DesRosiers rebounded her own miss and scored at the goal line.
 
The Beacons managed eight shots including five from newcomer Libby Gregory (pictured) who also owned all three of NCU's shots-on-goal in the game. Katie Hastings took the loss in goal but did collect four saves.
 
The Beacons return to action for a scrimmage at Lewis & Clark on Friday at 6 pm.