Corban's Audrey Sullivan scored three goals Thursday against Warner Pacific to push her total to a career-best 15 this season, as she became only the second player in program history to score 50-or-more goals in a career.
Sullivan Tricks Warner Pacific & Treats Corban to Victory to Clinch Home Playoff Game
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – On the one night of the year when kids of all ages dress up in costumes and go door-to-door saying "trick or treat" to each person, Corban University's Audrey Sullivan did both with the third hat trick of her career that treated the Warriors to their first home playoff game since 2010 with a 4-1 victory over Warner Pacific College Thursday on Warrior Field.
With today's win, Corban (10-5-2, 6-1-1 CCC) has guaranteed that the Warriors will finish in the Top 4 in the conference and will host at least one playoff game next week with the opponent, date, and time still to be determined. Meanwhile, Warner Pacific (3-8-0, 2-6-0 CCC) will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight year after the Knights advanced to the postseason in 2007.
Sullivan, who became only the second player in program history to score 50-or-more goals in a career, put Corban on the board first in the 24th minute when she teamed with Sierra Brusven for her 12th goal of the season. Brusven would begin the scoring play with a pass to Sullivan, who never broke stride in separating herself from the Knights' defense before unleashed a shot from 25 yards out into the upper right corner of the goal for an early 1-0 lead for Corban.
Neither team would score again over the final 20-plus minutes, as Corban seemed to control the offensive flow of the first half with nine shots compared to Warner Pacific's five. The Knights did have one scoring opportunity in the 12th minute when Ashley Valencia had a wide-open, one-on-one chance against Corban's goalkeeper only to put a shot right into the awaiting arms of net-minder Kaitlyn Mendenhall to keep the game scoreless.
In the second half, Warner Pacific would get the equalizer in the 52nd minute thanks to an own goal by Corban. A Warrior defender attempted to clear the ball over the end line only to have it skip past goalkeeper Alexis Beattie and into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Just over ten minutes later, Corban's Emily Boudreau would score the game-winner when she took a combo pass from Tera McDonough and Sullivan before scoring her career-high sixth goal of the season. McDonough would begin the play by sending a pass from the far sideline to Sullivan, who quickly one-touched a pass to a wide-open Boudreau at the top of the 18-yard box. After collecting the pass, Boudreau took a quick touch to her right before sending a 15-yard shot into the back of the net to put the host Warriors ahead 2-1.
After Boudreau's goal, Sullivan would add two more goals within a 36-second span when she headed home a corner kick by Boudreau in the 72nd minute before one-timing a free kick from Kailyn Siobal for her third goal of the afternoon in the 73rd minute. Sullivan's second goal of the game came on a perfectly-timed header off of Boudreau's corner kick at the 71:38 mark, while her third score came via a spin move off the free kick before unleashing a 15-yard one-timer for her team and conference-leading 15th goal of the season at the 72:14 mark.
Mendenhall and Beattie would split time between the pipes for Corban, as each goalkeeper played 45 minutes with Mendenhall registering a team-high five saves compared to Beattie's one. At the other end of the field, Warner Pacific's Cathy Lara tallied a game-high six saves on 20 Corban shots.
Overall, Corban registered 13 more shots (20-to-7) than Warner Pacific with the Warriors putting 50% (10-of-20) on target compared to the Knights' six. Each team was whistled for 11 fouls, while Corban earned six more corner kicks (7-to-1) than the visiting Knights.
Both teams will close out the regular season on Saturday, November 2nd, when Corban hosts the NAIA's No. 1-ranked Concordia beginning at noon in Salem and Warner Pacific travels to Springfield to take on Northwest Christian at 7:00 p.m.