EUGENE, Ore. – No. 19-ranked and second-seeded Oregon Tech claimed the outright Cascade Collegiate Conference Men's Soccer Tournament Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, in dramatic fashion Friday afternoon. It took over 100 minutes, but the Hustlin’ Owls grabbed a 2-1 victory over top-seeded Warner Pacific University to win the trophy.
Sophomore defender Brock Rideout redirected a ball inside the box past Warner Pacific University's keeper for the golden goal in the 104
th minute to lift the Owls (17-1-2) over the Knights (16-3-2).
After sharing the regular-season title, the tournament championship game would prove as the tiebreaker as only one team could lift the trophy. In the regular-season finale, Tech and Warner Pacific played to a 1-1 draw, with WPU winning the goal differential tiebreaker to get the automatic qualifier (AQ) to nationals.
OIT had revenge on its mind and came into the match with a lot of energy after claiming the second AQ as a tournament finalist.
Fourteen minutes into the match, Anthony Santillan turned and fired arocket past the Knights’ keeper to put the Hustlin' Owls up 1-0, firing up the OIT bench and fans.
Minutes later, the Knights earned a penalty kick with a chance to tie the game up. Fortunately for the Owls, the Knight skied the penalty to keep Tech's lead intact.
In the 78
th minute, WPU found the back of the night. After a ball bounced around in the 18-yard box, Sunjoon Tenorio redirected it into the net to tie the match.
Neither team would capitalize again in regulation, once again sending the Knights and Owls to overtime to decide the match.
After an uneventful first overtime period, Rideout left no doubt as he redirected a ball into the far corner to win the conference title for Tech.
The victory for Tech gives them momentum heading into the NAIA Opening Rounds that will begin on November 18th.