Senior Audrey Sullivan pulled within three points of becoming the sixth player in Corban history to register 100-or-more points in a career thanks to her third goal of the season Saturday against Linfield.
Last-Second Barrage by Corban Falls Short Against Wildcats of Linfield
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – In the final minute, Corban University earned three corner kicks and had a potential game-tying shot saved by a defender before falling in a heart-breaker to NCAA Division III member Linfield College, 2-1, in a non-conference game Saturday afternoon on Warrior Field.
With today's result, Corban drops to 2-4-1 on the season and Linfield remains unbeaten at 4-0-0 that includes three wins against Cascade Collegiate Conference opponents.
Trailing by a single goal with less than a minute on the clock, Corban began to push its offense up the field and secured three straight corner kicks. The first corner kick by the Warriors' Ashley Beykovsky got through a wall of Linfield defenders to find the head of teammate Audrey Sullivan, who found a sliver of daylight only to have the window of opportunity shut by a Wildcat defender that directed the ball over the end line. Beykovsky would take another corner kick that was sent back over the end line by another Linfield defender before the Warriors' final chance was cleared away from the Wildcats' defensive end as the final horn sounded.
Linfield would get on the board first when Emma Vukic directed a corner kick from the far side up and over everyone into the right side of the net for her first goal of the season, as the visiting Wildcats took a 1-0 lead at the 25:23 mark.
Neither team would score again in the first half, as Linfield took a slim one-goal lead into halftime. The visiting Wildcats held a slight advantage in shots (6-to-4) that included both teams putting a pair of shots on-target.
In the second half, Linfield would strike again when Emily Fellows scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season thanks to a nifty spin move around a Warrior defender before she unloaded a shot from 10 yards out that eluded Corban's goalkeeper and put the Wildcats ahead by a pair of goals (2-0) at the 50:34 mark.
Exactly three minutes later, Sullivan would net her team-leading third goal of the season for the Warriors when she dribbled past a diving Linfield net-minder before collecting the ball between a pair of Wildcat defenders and depositing a shot into the back of the net to pull Corban within a single goal (2-1) at the 53:34 mark.
Over the final 35-plus minutes, neither team mustered much offense until the aforementioned barrage in the game's final minute by Corban.
Corban’s goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mendenhall would register a game-high five saves, while Linfield's Kallina Haase collected a pair of saves for the visiting Wildcats.
In an evenly played game throughout, Linfield registered one more shot (12-to-11) than Corban and had more shots on-target (7-to-4) than the host Warriors. The same thing was true in total fouls, as Linfield was whistled for 12 versus Corban's 11 with the Warriors earning four more corner kicks (5-to-1) than the Wildcats.
Corban will return to action on Monday, September 16th, when they travel north to take on Trinity Lutheran College beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Lincoln Park in Everett, Washington.