Monmouth, Ore. - The University of Jamestown men's soccer suffered a 3-0 loss to the Western Oregon Wolves Saturday night on the west coast.
The Jimmies drop to 1-8-3 overall with three games left on the schedule. The 2025 GNAC Tournament Champions improve to 7-3-5 overall.
Western Oregon had a great look only a couple minutes in on a one-timer from a cross, but the shot was wide and to the right by a few feet.
The Wolves scored their first goal in the 11th minute. A long ball from Marcus Vazquez was sent right to the edge of the Jamestown box. Both Valon Ismaili and Archie Dhima went after it, but it was Dhima that got to it first. He dribbled past Ismaili and sent the ball into the wide-open net for the first goal of the game.
In the 16th minute, Kai Yoshida had a look on a free kick from about 50 yards out that turned out to be a nice ball, though Austin Valdez leaped up and grabbed it before any Jimmies could get to it. A bit later, and a forced turnover in the WOU zone nearly resulted in disaster for the home team, but Nuutti Norhomaa's shot from about 25 yards away went left of the net.
The Wolves coughed it up again in their d-zone in the 22nd minute, which led to an even better look by Norhomaa on a fastbreak chance. The Finland native got about 12 yards from the net along the left side of the box, though his shot was right at Valdez for the goalkeeper's second save of the night.
In the 25th minute, Ismaili made a diving stop on a shot inside the left side of the UJ box, then the Jimmies came down the other end to apply some pressure. Finley Comstock had the best look of the half by Jamestown in from about 10 yards out, though Valdez dived to his left to stop the shot and preserve the shutout.
Five minutes later, the Wolves came down the other end, and Will Boyle doubled the lead for Western Oregon after he capitalized on a cross in the 30th minute.
After Comstock's shot, UJ did not record another shot in the half or really have anything dangerous. Ismaili made two more saves as the first 45 minutes wrapped up with WOU holding a 2-0 lead.
Total shots were won 9-5 by the Wolves while shots on goal were 5-3. Jamestown never had a corner kick chance while Western Oregon got four.
Norhomaa had another shot on goal two minutes off a turnover, though this shot was deep and not particularly difficult for Valdez to save. In the 53rd minute, Comstock later won a 50-50 ball out near midfield, was able to somewhat beat a couple of defenders, but was rushed into a shot with some Wolves flying back on defense. The Vancouver native's shot was a worm burner right into where Valdez was positioned.
Tomkinson had another good look in the 67th minute and on the other side, Ismaili had a fantastic save in the 70th minute on a shot that was headed towards the top left corner of the net.
However, not long after this save, Western Oregon made some nice passes deep into the Jamestown zone and scored their third goal of the game from around the penalty hash marker, this time Jacob Solek earning the tally.
After going down a field goal, the Jimmies had some nice possession, which included a shot by Johannes Kappeler and then a great chance by Justin Junaid with about six minutes left on the timer.
Kappeler had another shot in the 89th minute, but to no avail and time expired with the Wolves besting the Jimmies 3-0 in Monmouth.
Comstock led Jamestown with two shots on goal while Tomkinson, Yoshida, and Kappeler each had two shot attempts. Ismaili was kept plenty busy on the night and made six saves on nine shots.
Total shots ended with WOU holding a 22-10 edge while shots on goal were 9-6. Six shots on goal as a team tied a season-high for the Jimmies while nine total shots were the third-most all season.
UJ will have their final game in the local area on Wednesday, October 21 as they head to the Hawkeye State to play the Upper Iowa Peacocks at 3:30 p.m.
