Lopez Keeps Scoring, Geoducks Keep Winning
Juan Lopez continued his impressive goal-scoring spree for The Evergreen State College, netting twice Saturday afternoon to lead the Geoducks to a 4-0 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s soccer win over the visiting Oregon Tech Owls at Geoduck Pitch.
Lopez, a junior forward from Aberdeen who leads Evergreen with nine goals, bagged his seventh and eighth in the last four matches to lead the Geoducks (9-1-0 overall, 5-1-0 CCC) to their fourth straight victory. Goalkeeper Angel Guerra, a senior from Wenatchee, recorded his third consecutive shutout and the team got its fourth in a row in the victory against Oregon Tech (6-8-0, 3-5-0).
Evergreen finished with a 22-11 advantage in shots, but it was Oregon Tech that took the early initiative. The Owls put pressure on the Evergreen defense, but most of their early attempts were off target and for the most part didn’t trouble Geoducks goalkeeper Angel Guerra.
The continued pressure, however, led to a tripping foul in the penalty box by the Geoducks, sending Oregon Tech defender Ian Tarnovsky to the penalty spot about 21 minutes into the match. Tarnovsky, who made a previous penalty kick earlier this season, went to the lower left corner but was denied by Guerra, who guessed correctly and knocked the ball wide.
Evergreen finally got on the scoreboard in the 37th minute, and it was Tanner Williams combining with Ryan Porch on the goal. Williams, the conference leader with nine assists entering the match, beat a defender on the right wing, dribbled the ball along the end touch line and then passed to Porch. The freshman forward made a near post run and slammed the ball into the back of the net from close range.
In the closing minute of the first half the Geoducks almost made it 2-0 but Oregon Tech keeper Gerardo Skewes leaped to push Juan Oropeza’s shot over the cross bar.
The Geoducks took over in the final half, taking 10 shots to just three for the hosts, and it was Lopez who scored the second goal in the 58th minute. This time Porch was the distributor, dribbling in from the right side and crossing to Lopez on the left, and he didn’t miss from close range.
The third score came in the 86th minute from freshman defender Jordan Zimmerman, who recorded his first collegiate goal by heading back across the front of goal from Nate Boatright’s free kick.
The final tally came unassisted from Lopez in the 88th minute and this was a 15-yard right-footed rocket past Skewes and into the far side net.
Guerra was forced to come up with five saves for the Geoducks while Skewes had three for the Owls. Evergreen ended up with a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks.
Evergreen hits the road for its longest road trip of the season next weekend, playing matches against Carroll College and University of Great Falls in Montana.