McMINNVILLE, Ore. -- (From Kelly Bird, Linfield SID) Whitworth defeated Redlands 3-1 in a battle of two defending conference champions Saturday at the first Linfield Wildcat Classic.

Junior midfielder Ali Seyedali drilled a 28-yard free kick over the head of the goalkeeper in the 32nd minute of the second half to give Whitworth a 2-1 lead.

Niko Varlamos on the run on the right side, converted a picture-perfect pass from Adam Loeffler from 12 yards in the 84th minute for the final score.

Whitworth’s Todd Sabrowski broke the scoring ice on a 20-yard bullet from the left side with 1:57 left in the first half.

Redlands’ Bryan Fakkema answered half-minute later on a one-touch from Chad Holasch at almost the same place at the other end of the field.

Shots were almost even -- Redlands 21, Whitworth 20, as were saves -- 10 for Whitworth’s Kevin Bostock and nine for Andrew Roraff of Redlands.

Both Redlands and Whitworth went to the NCAA Tournament last season, Redlands (15-3-1) as champions of the Southern California conference and Whitworth (16-3-1) as Northwest Conference champions.

Saturday was the opening match of the season for both teams. When the Classic resumes on Monday, Redlands plays host Linfield at noon and Whitworth plays Corban (formerly Western Baptist) of Oregon at 2:30.