McMINNVILLE, Ore.  – The Beacon men's soccer team finally made their season debut on Tuesday night and fell just short, losing to Linfield College, 2-1.
 
First-year head coach Erik Carrazco led his team onto the pitch for the first time and said, 'It was great for us to get that first one out of the way and I thought the boys played really well together. It was a good reminder that we worked so hard to get to this place where we could just be able to play."
 
Playing each other for the first time in over four years, the teams came out and spent the first 45 minutes feeling each other out as they headed to the intermission without a score. Bushnell held a 5-2 lead in shots as time of possession was evenly split.
 
The Wildcats were the first to crack the scoreboard just four minutes into the second half, and added what would amount to the game-winner in the 75th minute to take an imposing 2-0 lead.
 
Linfield exploded for a 13-3 shot advantage in the second half but Beacon keeper Julius Hernandez kept the visitors in the contest with multiple impressive saves, finishing the night with five.
 
The impressive work in the net, combined with continued offensive pressure led to Bushnell finally getting on the board with a score from Esgar Avila in the 88th minute. It was the first career goal for Avila, who returned to Bushnell after a year away, and the first career assist for freshman Kyle Aure.
 
The Beacons continued to apply pressure and had multiple opportunities to get an equalizer over the final two minutes, but it never quite materialized. "We were excited for Esgar's first goal," said Carrazco, "and the guys showed a lot of grit at the end and were really pushing the ball forward for that second goal."
 
Bushnell will quickly put the loss behind them as they look forward to a trip to Redding, California on Friday to take on Simpson University at 2:00 pm.
 
Carrazco said, "It was important for the boys to see how it looked to play in our formation and actually play it against different opponents. We have the guys to play the way we want to and to compete in our tough conference. We look forward to our next chance at that first win on Friday."