Warriors Fall to Hustlin' Owls
SALEM, Ore. - With the possibility of a first round bye in the conference tournament on the horizon, Corban's women's soccer team allowed a goal by Oregon Tech in the final ten minutes and fell to the Hustlin' Owls, 1-0, at Warrior Field on Friday afternoon.
Knowing that a win could possibly wrap up a first-round bye in the upcoming Cascade Collegiate Conference post-season tournament, the Warriors began the game applying offensive pressure but could not find the back of the net despite out-shooting the Hustlin' Owls, 8-3, in the first 45 minutes.
Senior Sarah Whaley (Gresham, Ore.), who sat out the final minutes of warm-up after suffering a slight knee injury, came out strong and pushed her teammate to apply pressure to the visitors from Klamath Falls. The 5-foot-6 midfielder led the Warriors with four shots (three on goal), but could not put the ball past OIT's keeper.
With the clock winding closer and closer to triple zeros and a possible overtime, OIT's Jaclyn Unruh kicked a ball away after making a save in the 84th minute that bounced over a pair of Warrior defenders and onto the foot of the Hustlin' Owls' Sharon Hernandez. After fighting with Corban's senior defender Tosha Wilson (Madras, Ore.), Hernandez got control of the bouncing ball and lofted a shot up over the Warriors' keeper that found the back of the net for the game's only score.
Over the final six-plus minutes, Corban continued to apply the offensive pressure but could not crack the Hustlin' Owls' wall of defense and had its three-game winning streak snapped in the process.
Allen played all 90 minutes in goal for Corban and recorded a pair of saves, while OIT's Unruh registered a game-high eight saves en route to securing the shutout.
With the loss, Corban drops to 8-8-0 overall, 5-3-0 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech improves to 8-7-1 overall, 4-4-0 in CCC action. The Warriors are next in action on Saturday, October 13th, when they host the Red Raiders of Southern Oregon in Cascade Collegiate Conference play beginning at 3:00 p.m. on Warrior Field.
NOTE: The Warrior women's soccer program will be honoring five seniors during halftime that will be playing their next-to-last home game donning the navy and gold.