College Place, Wash. – The Wolves hosted the Owls of Oregon Tech on Friday afternoon for their conference home opener. Unfortunately for the Wolves, a big first half from the Owls was the difference in today’s match as the Owls were able to improve to 2-1 in conference play, beating the Wolves 5-2.
The first twenty-four minutes saw both teams have opportunities to find the back of the net, however neither team was able to convert those opportunities into goals. It was not until the 25
th minute when Owls forward Trinidad Flores dribbled through the Wolves defense and found the back of the net to score the game’s first goal.
After the Owls pushed the lead to 2-0, Flores found the back of the net on back-to-back occasions in the 42
nd and 44
th minutes to net a first half hat trick and put the Owls ahead of the Wolves at halftime, 4-0.
Coming out of halftime, the Wolves looked to make up ground quickly and would do so by scoring two goals within the first seven minutes of the second half, responding to what their head coach reassured them during halftime. First, Juan Ruiz passed a ball in an open seam down the left side where midfielder Carlos Cantu found the back of the net via the bottom right corner in the 47
th minute. Second, Captain Emmett Semple passed from the middle to an open seam created by Nicholas Squires who hammered the ball into the right corner in the 52
nd minute.
From that point on, the Owls would keep the Wolves scoreless the following 38 minutes and would score an additional goal in the 78
th minute via forward Jack Warner who found the back of the net off via a header after a Wolves keeper deflection. The Owls would ride their hot start en route to a 5-2 victory over the Wolves.
The Wolves look to rebound in a tough matchup against the Raiders of Southern University, who are the reigning conference regular season champions. The match will take place on Sunday, September 21 at 1:00PM in College Place.
The Owls will continue their road trip and travel east to take on the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon. The match will take place Sunday morning at 11:00AM in La Grande, Ore.