EUGENE, Ore. – Senior Melyssa Weber gave the Northwest Christian University women’s soccer team the fastest goal in school history, but the Beacons wouldn’t score again, settling with a 1-1 tie with Warner Pacific in the final non-conference tilt of the season.
After the match, head coach Jessica Cardwell said, “Mel really got us off on the right foot with that quick goal. From there we really struggled to put together an attack. It was an interesting response to a go-ahead goal and something we need to address. In the second half and throughout overtime we created a lot of offense but couldn’t find the back of the net.”
The Knights owned the opening kickoff but a backward pass was quickly stolen by Beacon Forward Hannah Garhofer. Garhofer, Sami Wilson and Weber quickly charged down the field in what could only be described as a flying V formation. The final pass from Wilson found Weber who drilled home the score from just to the left of the penalty spot.
WPC finished off the scoring just ten minutes later as Brittney Yoshimura punched in the equalizer. Yoshimura found herself on a breakaway, forcing NCU keeper Kristin Fulbright to come forward into the box. Fulbright made a play on the ball but was unable to wrap it up, leaving the loose ball. Yoshimura collected it and scored on the second effort play.
NCU had control of much of the pace of play for the final 80 minutes. The Beacons finished with an 18-9 shot advantage, including a 14-3 margin in the second half and two overtime periods. The Knights did threaten late in the second half, but Fulbright made a leaping save on a long distance free ball to clear the ball over the top of the crossbar.
Fulbright finished the game with four saves while Knight Keeper Mariah Liebert ended her afternoon with three saves. Cardwell was impressed with Fulbright and the defensive effort the Beacons put forth. She said,” Kristin, Amanda Hadsell and Britnee Joaquin all played the full 110 minutes today and I was really impressed with their efforts. Kristin made a couple great saves, especially on that ball in the second half.”
The Beacons will now head off to Montana next weekend for the opening pair of games in Cascade Collegiate Conference action. NCU will be at Carroll College on Friday at 2:00 pm local time. Warner Pacific begins their CCC trek at home on Friday, hosting defending conference champion Northwest University at 1:00 pm.
“As we head into conference,” said Coach Cardwell, “it is great to see how far we have come. We started out this season unable to put an offensive attack together. Today we struggled to finish but we created plenty of opportunities to win the game. I’m excited to open up in Montana next week”