Late PK Lifts Cascade to Victory over Corban
SALEM, Ore. - With 28 seconds remaining and the score tied at 1-1, Corban's men's soccer team was whistled for a foul in the box that led to the game-winner by the Thunderbirds of Cascade, 2-1, on Thursday night despite senior Caleb Louvier's (SeaTac, Wash.) team-leading 7th goal this season.
Playing under non-stop rain for the entire game and away from the lovely confines of Warrior Field due to unplayable field conditions, Corban and Cascade went head-to-head on Sparks Field on the campus of Willamette University in order to take advantage of the field turf surface.
Despite being out-shot, 16-4, in the first half, Corban kept the Thunderbirds off the scoreboard thanks to numerous diving saves from sophomore goalkeeper Aaron Franklin (Red Bluff, Calif.). On two separate occasions, Cascade rocketed shots from 25-plus yards out that Franklin got enough of a hand on to knock up over the goal en route to leading to one of the Thunderbirds' five corner kicks in the first 45 minutes.
With 63 seconds remaining in the first half, Corban got on the board when senior Quinn Neely (Nelson, New Zealand) sent a crossing pass into the box that Cascade's keeper attempted to punch out but Louvier got his head on the ball. With both Louvier and the T-birds' net-minder coming together in the air, the ball went off Louvier's head towards the goal where the 5-foot-10 high-scoring forward re-grouped and sent the ball into the back of the net for the game's opening goal.
After holding Cascade without a goal for 70-plus minutes, the Warriors' defense misplayed a ball that was collected by Chris Smerke, who sent a crossing pass into the box that Franklin attempted to cover up. With the Corban defenders crashing down on the ball, along with numerous Thunderbird offensive attackers, Franklin was unable to corral the ball and Cascade's Fredrico Snow sent a pass across the mouth of the goal onto the awaiting foot of Kevin Youatt, who knotted the game at 1-all.
With the clock nearing triple-zeros and a potential overtime, Cascade put one last offensive attack together that eventually led to a Corban defender being called for a foul in the box near the end line therefore resulting in a penalty kick with 28 seconds remaining. Without hesitation, Cascade's Mario Vivanco stepped up and cracked a shot towards the upper left corner. Even though Franklin got both hands on the ball, Vivanco's shot was struck with enough velocity that it made it through Franklin's mitts and into the back of the net for the game-winner.
Franklin played the entire game in between the pipes for Corban and recorded a game-high 10 saves, while Cascade's Anthony Trejo registered a mere two saves en route to picking up the victory.
With the loss, Corban falls to 5-8-2 overall, 3-6-2 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action. Meanwhile, Cascade improves to 7-8-0 overall, 6-6-0 in CCC action. The Warriors are back in action on Saturday, October 20th, when they host the 'Yotes of The College of Idaho in Cascade Collegiate Conference action beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Sprague High School's brand-new field turf stadium.