Beacons Put 1-0 Loss on Geoducks
OLYMPIA – Ryan Herriage scored the only goal of the match in the 60th minute as visiting Northwest Christian defeated The Evergreen State College, 1-0, in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's soccer match played Wednesday at Geoduck Pitch.
In winning their third consecutive match, the Beacons improved to 4-7-2 overall and 3-5-1 in the conference. Evergreen, which lost its second straight 1-0 decision, is now 4-7-1 overall and 4-4-1 in the CCC.
The Geoducks had most of the play and dominated in shots, 17-8, but couldn't get the ball past Northwest Christian keeper John Castro, who notched his first shutout.
The winning goal came following an Evergreen foul about 40 yards from goal. Josh Bramlett hit a long ball into the center of the box, but it cleared the heads of several players and bounced to Herriage on the back post. His first-time volley from close range beat keeper Angel Guerra.
Both teams gave the opposing goalkeepers plenty of work. Evergreen put eight of their shots on goal and another hit the crossbar, while NCU had six shots on frame.
Both teams nearly scored in the opening 45 minutes. The Geoducks almost took a lead in the 15th minute on an own goal when a NCU defensive headed clearance hit the crossbar, and with about seven minutes left in the half Guerra charged off his line to snuff out a shot by NCU's Angel Sandoval, who got in behind the Evergreen defense.
Castro came up big for his team in the second half as the Geoducks poured on the offensive pressure. He made a diving save on a left-footed effort by Juan Oropeza about four minutes into the period, and four minutes later he came off his line to take the ball off of Tanner Williams' foot after the speedy Evergreen forward got in behind the defense.
With 24 minutes to play Williams, making a near post run, flicked a pass from Alberto Brand on goal, only to see a reaction stop by Castro. Finally, with 19 minutes remaining, Oropeza beat Castro from the top of the box, only to see his effort crash off of the crossbar.
Evergreen closes out the home portion of its schedule at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Warner Pacific at Geoduck Pitch.