PHOTO GALLERY | EUGENE, Ore.  – Sophomore Caleb Burke scored all three goals for the Beacons as they dropped their home opener on Friday afternoon, falling to Park University Gilbert, 7-3.  
 
Bushnell (1-2) out-shot the Buccaneers, 23-19, but Park held the advantage in shots-on-goal, 13-9 and were able to produce on seven of them.
 
"Our collective performance today was not good," said head coach Joao Ehlers. "We paid a high price for some mistakes that we made. Our guys had a good mentality, however, and fought hard for 90 minutes, creating some chances and scoring some goals."
 
The Beacons were caught off guard on the very first possession of the game when a handball in the box just 20 seconds into the contest created a penalty kick for the Bucs. Park capitalized with a goal for Brayan Ramirez Delgado.
 
The visitors would score twice more, including a strike in the 43rd minute, but just 30 seconds later, Burke found the back of the net off a pass from Juan Palacios to make it a 3-1 game going into the intermission.
 
Park did not relent in the second half, posting four goals in the first 12 minutes of the frame. Among them were the second and third goals for Johnny Perez who completed a hat trick of his own.
 
In the 77th minute, The Beacons were on the receiving end of a man advantage as a Buccaneer player was sent off with a second yellow card. Bushnell capitalized with two more goals from Burke in the next three minutes to round out the scoring.
 
For the Beacons, it was the first hat-trick since 2018, and just the fourth time a player has scored three or more goals in school history. "Caleb had a good match today," said Ehlers. "He was able to position himself well and use his body to create chances. He has been playing with confidence and has helped us quite a bit this season so far."
 
Bushnell will return to the pitch on Thursday, playing host to George Fox University at Civic Park with the opening kick off scheduled for 7:00 pm.