Pantaleon Leads Geoducks to 3-1 Victory
Sophomore midfielder Tino Pantaleon scored a goal and assisted on two others as The Evergreen State College closed out the regular season Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's soccer victory over the College of Idaho at Capital High School.
With the win, the Geoducks (7-4-5 overall, 6-3-4 CCC) finish with 22 points in the conference standings, good enough for a three-way tie for fourth place. Based on tiebreaker, the Geoducks will enter the conference postseason tournament at the No. 6 seed and will play No. 3 seed Corban in a first-round game next Friday, Sept. 3, at Willamalane Sports Complex in Springfield, Ore.
Despite the defeat, College of Idaho (9-8-0, 6-7-0) advances to the tournament as the No. 8 seed and will play regular season co-champion and No. 1 seed Southern Oregon.
Evergreen had entered Saturday's match without a home win this season, accumulating five ties and two losses in their previous seven games in Olympia. A pair of first-half goals and an insurance tally in the second period finally gave them the home victory.
K'gnausa Yodkerepauprai got the Geoducks going when he headed home a cross from Pantaleon just 3:38 into the match. Pantaleon took a corner kick, got the ball back and hit his cross to the far post, and Yodkerepauprai ran in to head home from a sharp angle for his first of the season.
College of Idaho got the goal back six minutes later when Carter Perry slotted the ball home from a Bekir Cinac pass. The tally was the 10th of the season for Perry.
Evergreen again took the lead on a goal by Angel Trejo-Delgado, and again the assist went to Pantaleon. His corner kick found Trejo-Delgado in the middle of the box, and the freshman forward got his left foot on the ball from close range to notch his team-best 10th of the season.
Pantaleon finished off his outstanding day with his second goal of the year as his free kick through a crowd eluded College of Idaho keeper Grant Billings and found its way into the back of the net.
The Coyotes enjoyed a 13-8 advantage in shots, though Evergreen had a clear 5-1 edge in corner kicks.
Ben Stevenson picked up three saves, including an outstanding diving effort from a Jacob Hurter attempt in the second half, while Billings had one save for the Coyotes.
The Geoducks honored seniors Connor Beck, Kevin Elliott-McCrea, Issa Hassan and Martin Ramirez prior to the start of the game.