Rocky hangs on against SOU for second straight title
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND -- Playing a man down over the final 30 minutes, the 21st-ranked Rocky Mountain men's soccer team hung on for a 2-1 win over Southern Oregon on Saturday afternoon at Raider Stadium, clinching at least a share of its second straight Cascade Conference regular-season title.
Rocky (12-3-2 overall, 10-1-2 Cascade Conference) went up in the 20th minute when Nolan Sherwood's shot on an advantage was blocked and picked up by Matthew Thomas, who connected with room from 10 yards out. One minute later, though,
Sean McManamon provided the Raiders (11-3-2, 9-2-2) with an equalizer, picking up a loose ball that was the result of an
Ahmon Afenegus free kick near the corner and scoring from a couple yards out.
The decisive goal belonged to Taylor Anderson in the 31st. Gregor Watson's precision pass from 30 yards up the sideline found Anderson on a line, and he headed it in from point-blank range in front of the goal.
Rocky keeper Cole Catlin made four clutch second-half saves to secure the win. Sherwood was issued a red card with 30 minutes to go, putting the Bears largely on the defensive.
The game remained testy: SOU was issued four yellow cards, including three in the final 17 minutes.
The Raiders and Bears entered the day in a four-way tie for first place with Corban and Evergreen.
SOU will drop to the No. 4 seed. Carroll will get the No. 5 seed if it defeats the winless Walla Walla today, which would equal a matchup between the Raiders and Saints in the quarterfinals of the CCC tournament on Nov. 4 in Springfield. SOU won the regular-season meeting last week in Helena, 3-1.
The Raiders started the day with a five-game winning streak and a nine-game unbeaten streak.
Rocky will learn if it gets the title outright tonight when Corban hosts Evergreen.