Oregon Tech's Devin Torrey (Photo by Kelly Caleb)
Late Minute Goal Lifts Hustlin' Owls Past Willamette 1-0
KLAMATH FALLS,OR (September 6, 2009) Devin Torrey’s high-arching shot from 25 yards curved past Willamette’s goalkeeper with less than three minutes to play Sunday and lifted Oregon Tech to a 1-0 men’s soccer victory at Steen Sports Park.
“We switched fields and Robbie Glenn gave me a cross, I took a touch and let it go,” Torrey said after he helped the Hustlin’ Owls up their record to 2-0 on the season with the win. OIT now heads to Redding for a rematch at 7 p.m. Tuesday with Simpson University. Willamette had entered Sunday’s match coming off a 5-1 win at Simpson Saturday, the score OIT had beaten Simpson when the Hustlin’ Owls opened their season, so coach Bryan Mueller expected a solid test from Willamette.
“Our defense definitely had to work,” OIT goalkeeper Tommy Burden said after he had two saves by the Bearcats, who fell to 1-2 on the season. “That’s a good team, but we came out in the second half and marked our guys. “We had talked at halftime about being mentally tough and wait for our opportunities,” Burden said. OIT had several chances.Willamette goalkeeper Mark Bennett had to make four brilliant stops among his five saves before Torrey found the upper corner of the net for the lone goal of the afternoon. Most of Bennett’s tough saves came before Luke Lagattua was sent to the sidelines with a red card, which left Willamette a field player shy for the final 19 minutes of the match, and it showed. “Our work ethic paid off,” Torrey said. “With the altitude, we tired them out.” It also slowed the Bearcats’ offense over the final 20 minutes of play. “My defense is the best in the state,” the junior from Costa Mesa, Calif., playing his first season at OIT said. “I just tell them to body up and they all know where to go. I don’t have to tell them which body (to mark), they know.”
OIT now takes its 2-0 record to Simpson looking for its third win, something that did not happen in last season’s first year of men’s soccer until the 17th match of the year. The Hustlin’ Owls did not get two wins until the tenth match a year ago.