Corban's senior-night celebrations were cut short in an overtime loss to Evergreen.
SALEM, Ore. – While celebrating the Corban University men’s soccer team’s nine seniors and each of their accomplishments during their respective careers, Senior Night ended abruptly in the first overtime period against The Evergreen State College on Saturday evening, as the Geoducks came up with the golden goal and were victorious, 1-0. The game was played on the campus of Willamette University at Sparks Field for the second-consecutive match due to field conditions at Corban.
With the loss, Corban now sits in a tie for third place with Evergreen in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC), as both teams have accumulated 25 points through 13 matches. Both teams have one regular-season contest remaining that will help in deciding who the third and fourth seeds will be in the CCC Tournament.
In the first stanza, Evergreen (8-7-1, 8-4-1 CCC) was very much on the front foot, tallying 10 shots to just six for Corban. The Geoducks rattled one shot off of the crossbar and forced Warrior senior goalkeeper Steven Mason (Santa Rosa, Calif.) into three other high-quality diving saves. At the halftime break, however, the score remained tied, 0-0.
In the second half, Corban came out firing, dictating more of the play during the final 45 minutes. The Warriors forced Evergreen goalkeeper Angel Guerra into a number of key saves for the Geoducks, as he was able to keep Corban off the board. The Geoducks almost won it late in regulation with a header that hit the crossbar and went over the goal, but the match remained scoreless.
In the first overtime stanza, Corban thought it had won the contest when senior forward Arsinio Walker (Kingston, Jamaica) laced the ball into the back of the net, but the referee called a foul on the Warriors on the play, negating the goal.
Not long after, the Geoducks went down the field the other way and earned a corner kick. After taking the corner-kick opportunity quickly and playing it short, Juan Oropeza whipped the ball into the box and found Willie Spurr open, and Spurr headed the ball into the back of the net, ending the match and securing the triumph for Evergreen.
On the night, Corban outshot Evergreen, 16-15, while also holding the corner-kick edge, 10-7. Walker led the way for the Navy and Gold with five shots, while sophomore defender Tim Kagey (West Linn, Ore.) tallied three.
“I loved the effort from our guys today in the second half,” commented head coach Aaron Lewis. “We will look to continue to get our team ready as we focus on preparing for a playoff run.”
For the Geoducks, it was Issa Hassan who racked up six shots on the evening, while Tanner Williams totaled three.
Corban (10-6-1, 8-4-1 CCC) returns to action immediately on Tuesday when it travels to The College of Idaho for its final regular-season match of the 2014 campaign. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. If the Warriors win, they will have to wait and see how Evergreen’s final match of the regular season plays out against first-place Concordia University. Tiebreakers may come into play and could change based on the final outcomes of these last matches, so stay tuned.