Women's Soccer Quarterfinals Recap
EUGENE, Ore. – Three out of four quarterfinal games were won in upset fashion on Wednesday as the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships Presented by U.S. Bank got underway at the Les Schwab Sports Park.
#1 Eastern Oregon 4, #8 Corban 1
The top-seeded Eastern Oregon Mountaineers cruised into the semifinals with a big 4-1 win as the only lower seed to win on the day. After Riley Smetzler opened the game with a goal for Corban, CCC Offensive Player of the Year Taylor Boyer scored the equalizer for the Mounties. Then, early in the second half, Jenna Jensen connected on the game winner. Korilynn Goller and MacKinley Gregus added insurance strikes within a minute and a half of each other later in the second frame.
EOU held a 28-5 shot advantage and Cydni Cottrell collected four saves in the win.
#7 Rocky Mountain 0, #2 Carroll 0 (Rocky Mountain advances on PKs, 6-5)
The first big upset of the tournament saw Rocky Mountain advance on PK’s after battling to a scoreless tie with the second-seeded Fighting Saints. It was also Rocky that controlled play during the match, holding a 16-9 lead in shots as they allowed Carroll to post just two shots-on-goal.
After each team connected on four-of-five PK attempts during the shootout, RMC’s Jessica Kloepfer connected to open the first sudden-death round. Charly Clements missed on her attempt, sending the Battlin’ Bears into the semifinals.
#5 Northwest 2, #4 Southern Oregon 0
A pair of teams that tied for fourth-place during the CCC regular season posted just 13 combined shots in a mostly defensive contest. Northwest University scored twice in the first 30 minutes and that was all they needed.
Katie Michkiosky, the CCC leading scorer, connected on the game-winner in the 18th minute off a pass from Sharaya Roberts. 12 minutes later, Rylee Rassier earned the insurance strike, assisted by Bailey Travis.
Eagle keeper Kat Sanchez recorded two saves as she picked up the shutout victory.
#6 College of Idaho 0, #3 Oregon Tech 0 (College of Idaho advances on PKs, 7-6)
In the second scoreless tie of the day, sixth-seeded College of Idaho advanced to the semifinals by winning an intense shootout. Both teams missed their first attempts before they each rattled off five straight scores. Opening the seventh round, C of I’s Laura Staropoli found the back of the net. Then Kylie Cowell was unsuccessful on her attempt for the Owls, ending the match.
Oregon Tech held a 25-15 advantage in shots during the match and had six shots-on-goal, thus giving Yote keeper Shae Waters six saves in the shutout win.
The semifinal games of the tournament will be played on Thursday at 4:00 pm. One game will feature #1 EOU taking on #7 Rocky Mountain and in the other, #5 Northwest will be the higher seed against #6 College of Idaho.