Bearcats Put Winning Streak On Line Against Boxers and Bruins

By Mark Colachico, Interim Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- The Willamette University mens soccer team will put its two-game winning streak on the line this weekend - Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 4 and 5 - against Pacific University of Oregon and George Fox University (Ore.). Both games will kick off at 2:30 p.m. (PDT) on Sparks Field.

Last weekend, the Bearcats moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Northwest Conference with a pair of victories over University of Puget Sound (Wash.) and Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.). Willamette outscored the Loggers and Lutes by a combined score of 5-2, as the Bearcats picked up a 2-1 win over UPS on Saturday and a 3-1 victory over PLU on Sunday.

The Bearcats opened the weekend with a well-played 2-1 win over Puget Sound, as Garrett Ross (Jr., F, Pacific Palisades, CA/Oakwood Secondary) broke a scoreless tie in the second half with his first goal of the season on an assist by Tyler Yates (Jr., F, Kailua-Kona, HI/Kealakehe HS) at 51:03. Following an equalizer by UPS at 58:58, Yazan Hishmeh (Jr., F, Ventura, CA/Saint Bonaventure HS) netted his second straight game-winner via his sixth goal of the season on an unassisted score at 79:19.

Twenty-four hours later, Willamette returned to the field and strategically dismantled Pacific Lutheran en route to a 3-1 victory over the Lutes. Julian Hanlon-Austin (So., F, Portland, OR/Grant HS) teamed with Yates on his first goal of the season at 22:07 before PLU knotted the game at 1-1 eight minutes later. In the second half, Hishmeh scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season on a penalty kick for his third straight game-winner before Jesse Thompson (Jr., F, Santa Ynez, CA/Santa Ynez HS) added an insurance goal on a combo assist from Noah Walin (So., MF, Makawao, HI/Seabury Hall) and Adam Lewis (Sr., MF, Corvallis, OR/Crescent Valley HS/Pomona-Pitzer) at 75:09.

For his effort over the weekend, goalkeeper Braydon Calder (Jr., GK, Philomath, OR/Philomath HS) was named NWC Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week after picking up his fourth and fifth victories of the season thanks to a combined 10 saves for Willamette. The third-year Bearcat allowed a combined two goals in 180 minutes for a goals against average (GAA) of 1.00 last weekend.

So far this season, Hishmeh leads the team with seven goals to go along with one assist resulting in a team-leading 15 points. Among the Northwest Conference leaders, Hishmeh ranks second in goals and third in points. Thompson ranks second on the team behind Hishmeh with three goals, while Yates has handed out a team-high five assists for the Bearcats.

All four goalkeepers have seen at least 17 minutes in net this year, as Calder has logged the most with almost 697 minutes between the pipes to go along with 37 saves and a GAA of 1.16. Among the NWC leaders, Calder ranks second in saves and fifth in GAA.

Pacific comes into Saturday's game having dropped four straight games falling to 3-6 overall and 0-4 in NWC games, as the Boxers have allowed 11 goals so far this season in conference play and scored only two.

Mark Watson leads Pacific in goals with four and points with nine, while Ian Farley and Matt Kimball have each scored a pair of goals for the Boxers. Garrick Knowles has handed out a team-leading three assists, while Leyton Thommasen has stood between the pipes for Pacific for 765 minutes registering 36 saves allowing 13 goals for a GAA of 1.53.

George Fox enters this weekend's set of games on a four-game losing streak, as the Bruins have an overall record of 2-6-1 and 0-4-0 in conference games. GFU has allowed 15 goals in conference play so far this season, while only scoring one.

Luke Hammer leads George Fox in both goals with five and points with 10, while Daniel Alonzo and seven other Bruins have combined to score the remaining nine goals this season for GFU. All three Bruin goalkeepers - Hector Acosta, Murray Noble, and Ricardo Sotelo - have seen time between the pipes this season, as Sotelo has a majority of the minutes to go along with a team-high 29 saves despite allowing 18 goals for a GAA of 3.11.

Following this weekend's games, Willamette hits the road for five straight beginning on Saturday, Oct. 11, against Linfield College (Ore.) beginning at 2:30 p.m. (PDT) in McMinnville, Oregon.