The Warriors celebrated after winning the penalty-kick shootout on Thursday afternoon. (Photo Credit: Doug Pfeiler)
SALEM, Ore. – It took a full 90 minutes, two overtime periods, and then an extended penalty-kick shootout to determine who would advance to the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament semifinals, and ultimately, the Corban University women’s soccer team came out on top, defeating Southern Oregon University in penalty kicks, 6-5. With the penalty-kick shootout triumph on Thursday in this CCC Tournament Quarterfinal match, Corban advances to play at the No. 2-seed, Concordia University, on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
On what was a blustery and rainy afternoon at Sparks Field on the campus of Willamette University, Southern Oregon controlled much of the play during the first 45 minutes, ripping off seven shots to just one for the Warriors. Corban senior goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mendenhall (Windsor, Calif.) came up with two timely saves though, keeping the Raiders off the board.
After the halftime intermission, the two sides tried to break the deadlock in a back-and-forth second stanza. Corban registered a pair of good opportunities late in the contest, with freshman defender Marissa Telarroja (Claremont, Calif.) coming in off the bench and providing some immediate energy. After beating a defender and lacing a shot towards goal that forced SOU goalkeeper Kylie Moltzen into a save, she did the same thing with just two minutes remaining in regulation, forcing Moltzen to sprawl to her left and tip the ball just wide of the goal.
With the match still scoreless, the two sides advanced to golden-goal overtime periods. In the first overtime stanza, the Warriors fired three shots towards the Raider goal, but none resulted in a score, sending the game to a second-overtime period.
In that second extra stanza, both sides tallied one shot, but neither team found the breakthrough, leaving the match scoreless and ultimately in need of a penalty-kick shootout to determine the winner.
In the shootout, Corban won the coin toss and elected to shoot second. After both teams converted the first penalty kicks, Southern Oregon put its second shot wide of the goal and Corban had its shot saved by Moltzen, leaving the shootout deadlocked. The two teams then traded scores back and forth through the first five designated shooters, and all of the way until the seventh shooter.
On Southern Oregon’s seventh penalty-kick taker, Mendenhall read the shot, dove to her left and made the diving save, giving Corban the advantage. Sophomore defender Olivia Erskine (Chehalis, Wash.) then stepped up to the spot with the opportunity to send her team to the CCC Tournament semifinals, and she made no mistake, burying her penalty kick into the side netting to see Corban through to the semis.
After the match, Mendenhall and Erskine talked about the exciting finish in a post-game interview.
In a very evenly-played match overall, Southern Oregon (5-10-3) held the advantage in shots, 14-9, while also edging the Warriors in corner kicks, 7-3. Leading the way for the Raiders was Kelsey Randall and Presley Lambert, as both players recorded three shots apiece. In addition, Allyson Ward and Lisa Elledge tallied two shots each.
For Corban, it was Telarroja who notched a team-best three shots off the bench, while sophomore midfielder Amber Lennier (Tracy, Calif.) fired off two shots. Junior midfielder Randi Donahue (Bellingham, Wash.) served as the playmaker for the Warriors throughout much of the afternoon, and she also ripped one shot towards goal, but it missed narrowly wide.
Mendenhall finished the game with four saves in her fourth-straight shutout and ninth of the season.
“I have to applaud Southern Oregon and its play today,” stated Corban head coach Marty Ziesemer. “They played well and outplayed us for a good portion of the game. In the second half, we started to pressure a bit and created some good chances for ourselves. No coach likes to win or lose a match on penalty kicks, but we have practiced them all season and I liked the composure that I saw in us taking them. Kaitlyn made a key save in that penalty-kick shootout which was huge, so we get to move on.”
The Warriors (10-6-3) move onto the CCC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. and will travel to play second-seeded Concordia University (14-1-2).