Raiders recover with 2-0 defeat of WPU
SOU Sports Information
ASHLAND – Southern Oregon's attacking breakthrough came just in time to get back at Warner Pacific with a 2-0 win Monday afternoon at Raider Stadium.
After being held scoreless for the first three halves of the back-to-back, freshman Moises Hernandez and sophomore Sam Walker tapped in uncontested shots in the 55th and 56th minutes to give the Raiders a split of the series and bump their Cascade Conference record to 3-1.
WPU (8-2 overall, 4-2 CCC) won Sunday's evenly-contested matchup on a penalty kick, but a more composed and patient SOU squad emerged 24 hours later to spread out and pick apart the Knights with advantages of 19-7 in shots and 10-2 in shots on goal.
Hernandez made the fifth on-target shot count with his second goal of the season. He initially left a ball at the top of the box for freshman Evan Norconk, who turned and fired a 20-yard shot off the crossbar. Knights keeper Alexis Calderilla-Hurtado went lunging for it and could only watch from the ground as Hernandez streaked in to rebound.
Norconk was credited with an assist for his first collegiate point.
Eighty-eight seconds later, Hernandez sent an immaculate through-ball from midfield into the box that sent Calderilla-Hurtado diving again. Walker beat him to the ball after streaking down the right side and had a clear path to his second goal of the season.
SOU's back line of Carlos Diaz, Omar Navarro-Ramirez and Zak Woolley continued to make life tough on WPU's attackers and kept senior Nick Evans, who entered the weekend with eight goals, to a single shot on target.
Raider keeper Liam Kalhagen earned the shutout with two saves.
The defense took a major hit, though, when Woolley was sent off with his second yellow card with six minutes left. He'll also miss SOU's next game, Sunday at Oregon Tech, as a result.
Though he came away with nothing to show for it, Alan Gaytan led the Raiders with five shots on goal.
In Sunday's 1-0 decision, the Knights became the first team in 16 games to shut out the Raiders dating back to 2019.