Holly Martinez Moorman scored twice to push Corban to a 3-2 win over Northwest. (Photo Credit: Doug Pfeiler)
SALEM, Ore. – The Corban University women's soccer team won a thriller on Friday afternoon against Northwest University, 3-2, clinching the No. 3 seed in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament in the process. Corban scored early and led for the entirety of the contest, ultimately holding off the Eagles' late rally.
"It was a great team effort and the girls managed to stick to the game plan and our forwards scored great goals," said Corban head coach Likius Hafeni. "We are looking forward to finishing well tomorrow before the CCC Tournament."
Corban took the lead in the fifth minute of play when senior forward Randi Donahue found herself in behind the defense on a stolen pass and then slotted her shot to the lower-left corner.
The score remained that way for the rest of the first stanza, but then Corban made it 2-0 less than a minute into the second half when junior forward Holly Martinez Moorman received a flicked pass from senior midfielder Emily Larick, and she buried her shot into the back of the net.
Northwest pulled one back on a header off of a long free kick in the 56th minute of play, with Tiffany Taylor scoring for the Eagles.
The Warriors responded and made it 3-1 after sophomore forward Lexi McQueary beat her defender down the left side and crossed it into the middle to the on-rushing Martinez Moorman who tapped it in in the 84th minute.
Northwest once again responded with a beautiful goal of its own, however, as Winter Wirkkala ripped a shot into the right-side netting to make it 3-2 in the 85th minute.
From that point on, Corban played solid defensively to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard for a third time, clinching the victory and the No. 3 seed in the upcoming CCC Tournament.
Corban (11-6, 7-3 CCC) outshot Northwest (9-5-2, 5-3-2 CCC) on the day, 18-10, and boasted the 7-1 corner-kicks advantage.
The Warriors return to action tomorrow for their final regular-season match of 2016 when they host The Evergreen State College at approximately 8 p.m. The game is set to have both live stats and live video on Warrior TV.