Gutty Evergreen Effort Comes Up Short
OLYMPIA – Playing with a makeshift lineup against the No. 3-ranked team in the country, The Evergreen State College scrapped through 90 minutes of action before losing a 1-0 Cascade Collegiate Conference women’s soccer decision to the visiting Concordia Cavaliers at Geoduck Pitch.
Concordia improves to 14-1-1 overall and 7-1-0 in the conference while Evergreen, now 4-10-1 and 2-5-1, sees its slim conference postseason tournament hopes come to an end with the loss.
Annika Hayman, who came into the match with no goals but a team-best seven assists for Concordia this season, scored the only goal at 58:56, making a run from the left wing to hit a short volley into the net on a cross from Alicia Alarcon.
The goal came on Concordia’s eighth shot in a second half that saw the visitors get off 14 attempts to none for the Geoducks. That was the only breakthrough that the Cavaliers managed against an Evergreen team that had several players out of position – particularly on the back line – because of injuries.
“I was impressed and pleased to be a Geoduck today,” Evergreen head coach Adam Fenster said about the team effort. “It was phenomenal.”
Though Concordia had most of the possession and a 10-2 advantage in shots through the opening 45 minutes, the Geoducks came the closest to a goal.
With about 6:30 left in the half, Irina Lyons got onto a loose ball in the middle of the Concordia box and rattled the left post with her shot. The ball ricocheted across the face of goal and was cleared out of danger by the Cavs defense. Evergreen's only other chance came in the dying seconds when Kenzie Phillips' effort deflected off of a defender and rolled into the hands of Cavs keeper Nicole Franklin.
Concordia's first three shots resulted in saves from Evergreen keeper Kyla Kitts, including her charge off the line about 12 minutes into the match to snuff out an effort by Annika Hayman. In addition, Vanessa Zamora headed a goal-bound Cavaliers effort off of the line in the opening period.
Final statistics showed Concordia with a 24-2 advantage in shots and 13-0 in corner kicks. Kitts ended the match with seven saves, while Nicole Franklin did not have to make a save for Concordia.
Evergreen closes out its 2014 season at noon Saturday when it hosts Warner Pacific in another Cascade Collegiate Conference counter, while Concordia plays at unbeaten Northwest in a battle of the top two teams in the CCC.