College Place, Wash. – The Northwest Christian University Beacons were slated as the Wolves' Friday afternoon matchup here in College Place. It was a battle of the 13^th (NWC) and 14^th (WWU) ranked teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Both teams came into this game struggling to score goals as Northwest Christian (2-10-1, 1-7-1 CCC) came in with only five goals in conference play, and Walla Walla (0-14-0, 0-10-0) only six - so it was an opportunity for both sides to improve on those numbers.
 
Northwest Christian drew first blood in the 12^th minute thanks to a well-executed counter attack sparked by a pinpoint through-ball by Luis Diaz to Victor Irechukwu. The Beacons' striker ran deep into the Wolves' final third before passing back to Malcom Fleming who only needed one touch to smash the ball into the bottom left corner. Only ten minutes later, Irechekwu had himself two goals thanks to a Wolves' defensive lapse, and his nice bit of skill to run around the Wolves' keeper before passing the ball into the net.
 
The ensuing 20 minutes highlighted a solid spell of defense from the Wolves, keeping the Beacons in check and accumulating two shots on goal of their own. All good runs must come to an end, however, as the Beacons added one more before the half. After an errant Wolves' throw-in, Northwest Christian's Alexander Abalan led Simon Estifanos with a perfect pass. Estifanos gathered the pass, and ran it all the way down the right flank before powering the ball over the head of the Wolves' goalkeeper.
 
As expected, Victor Irechukwu was hungry for a hat trick coming out of the half, so hungry that it only took him one minute to achieve it. In the 46^th minute, Senior Beacons' defender Jaime Aguayo sprinted down the right flank and delivered a pacey cross into the box where Irechukwu was running to meet the ball and punch it in to complete the hat trick. Even with a 5-0 lead, the Beacons remained very aggressive. This aggression translated to an incredible run of attacking. A goal from Beacons' sophomore Josh Cloyd started it in the 58^th minute, and the Northwest Christian attack tacked on two more goals in the next couple minutes coming from Luis Dias and Josh Cloyd.
 
The afternoon never seemed to get better for the Wolves' as they struggled to keep their fire lit in the wake of such a large deficit. Northwest Christian would get two more goals, one from Alexander Abalan, and another off a penalty kick from Victor Irechukwu. The match ended with a final score of 10-0 in favor of the visiting Beacons.
 
For the Wolves, the next challenger in their quest for victory number one will be second-ranked Corban University (11-1-1, 8-0-1 CCC) on Sunday, October 21 at 1:00p.m. This will be a tough test for the Wolves, who will be looking for a little senior night magic.