Tom Kemennu (21), Jordan Zimmerman (8) and the Evergreen defense were stout.
Late Goals, Stout Defense Lead Evergreen
The Evergreen State College finally wore down a game Southern Oregon team on Friday afternoon, scoring two late goals to take a 2-0 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's soccer win at Geoduck Pitch.
Evergreen (8-1-0 overall, 5-1-0 CCC) got goals from Juan Lopez in the 76th minute and from Tanner Williams in the 84th minute to defeat Southern Oregon (9-5-0, 3-4-0), a first-year collegiate program. The Geoducks, off to the best start in program history, have won three consecutive matches by shutout.
The visiting Raiders were content to pack the defense, limit the number of good looks at goal by the Evergreen offense, and then counter on offense when they had the opportunity. For the most part that strategy was effective, leaving it for the Geoducks to patiently probe the Southern Oregon defense until they found an opening. That led to a game that saw a total of just seven total shots in the first half and 17 for the match.
Evergreen took 10 of those shots, and its patience finally paid off when Lopez, a junior midfielder from Aberdeen, tallied his seventh goal of the season at 75:35. Lopez ran onto a loose ball near the top of the penalty box on the left side and hit a bullet past Southern Oregon keeper Jonathan Morales and into the far side of the net.
The second goal came from Williams, the reigning Cascade Collegiate Conference Offensive Player of the Week. The junior forward from Sandpoint, Idaho, was in the right spot after Southern Oregon goalkeeper Jonathan Morales got a hand on a shot by Lopez. Williams, running toward the goal for a possible rebound, benefitted from his hard work and tapped the ball home for his seventh goal of the season. Lopez and Williams are tied for the team lead with those seven goals.
While those two were finding the back of the net, senior goalkeeper Angel Guerra and the Evergreen defense were keeping Southern Oregon at bay on the other end of the field. The Raiders put only two of their seven shots on frame, both resulting in second-half saves by Guerra, who picked up his third shutout of the season.
Southern Oregon had a 4-3 margin in corner kicks and also committed five fouls compared to four in a clean and hard-fought contest.
Both teams play conference matches tomorrow, Southern Oregon facing Northwest University in Kirkland and Evergreen hosting Oregon Tech. Both of those matches are scheduled to kick off at noon.