Warriors Secure No. 2 Seed with Win over WP
SALEM, Ore. - Thanks to goals from freshman Sheree Kuehl (Seabeck, Wash.) and senior Megan Waunch (Tumwater, Wash.), Corban's women's soccer team secured the No. 2-seed in the upcoming Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament with a 2-0 victory over the Knights of Warner Pacific on Wednesday night.
With the Warriors playing the final conference game of the day, Corban knew that a win would wrap up the No. 2-seed for next week's conference post-season tournament and would allow the Warriors a chance to rest this weekend.
Due to the amount of rain that the city of Salem has received over the past few weeks and unplayable conditions on Warrior Field, tonight's game was moved to nearby Sparks Field on the campus of Willamette University in order to take advantage of the field turf surface.
After a scoreless opening 21-plus minutes, Kuehl notched her second goal of the season off a combo assist from fellow freshman Melissa Malone (Lake Forest, Calif.) and senior Sarah Whaley (Gresham, Ore.). Whaley began the play by collecting a loose ball in the box before sending a pass to Malone, who tapped it through to an oncoming Kuehl. Without hesitation, Kuehl rocketed a shot past Warner Pacific's keeper and into the upper right corner of the net for game's opening goal.
Playing relentless defense over the opening 45 minutes, Corban allowed the visiting Knights only one shot and allowed junior goalkeeper Karyn Allen (Merlin, Ore.) a much-needed rest, as she would be called upon during the final half en route to securing the shutout.
Less than 20 minutes into the second half, Waunch put home a much-needed insurance goal when she teamed with Malone, as Waunch tied for the team lead in goals with eight. Malone teamed with Waunch thanks to a perfectly placed through ball that found the senior forward's foot before she lofted a shot from the near sideline up over the out-stretched arms of the Knights' keeper for the game's final goal.
Despite Warner Pacific applying a lot of offensive pressure over the final 20 minutes, the Warriors' defense was up for the challenge thanks to a quartet of second half saves from Allen and a pair of team saves. Two different Warner Pacific shots eluded Allen, but could not get past the final wall of defense as each one was cleared away from the goal by a Warrior defender en route to keeping the Knights off the scoreboard.
Allen played all 90 minutes in goal for Corban and recorded four saves en route to picking up her team-leading fifth shutout of the season. Meanwhile, Warner Pacific's Ali Foster registered a game-high seven saves between the pipes for the Knights.
With the win, Corban concludes the regular season with an overall record of 10-8-0, 7-3-0 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Meanwhile, Warner Pacific finishes its regular season at 8-8-1 overall, 4-5-1 in CCC action.
With the opening round of the conference post-season tournament beginning this Saturday, October 20th, with #3 Oregon Tech hosting #6 Warner Pacific and #5 Cascade visiting #4 The College of Idaho, Corban will have to wait and see which team it plays on Wednesday, October 24th, beginning at 7:00 p.m. on Sparks Field on the campus of Willamette University. The Warriors will host the highest remaining seed, while conference champions and nationally-ranked Concordia will welcome the lowest remaining seed in earlier action next Wednesday.