Eagles Hand Geoducks Their First Loss

9/26/2015 7:59:45 PM

Northwest University withstood a late rally from The Evergreen State College to register a 2-1 victory in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's soccer match played Saturday afternoon at Geoduck Pitch.

The Eagles, who knocked the Geoducks out of the conference tournament a year ago, picked up their first conference victory against two defeats while improving their overall record to 3-5. At the same time they handed the Geoducks their first loss of the season. Evergreen is now 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

While the hosts took 12 shots to just five for Northwest, the visitors pounced on two Evergreen turnovers in its own defensive end to score their goals. The first came at 16:34 when Jacob Weaver took the ball and then used his speed to round a defender and slot the ball past Geoducks goalkeeper Angel Guerra. The goal was the first of the season for Weaver.

The remainder of the first half was a tight defensive affair with a total of just seven shots and two saves between the sides.

With Evergreen getting more attempts at goal in the second half, the Eagles were opportunistic on offense at 73:38 when Kyle Zimmerman ran onto a misplayed ball and hit a one-time curving rocket to the upper corner from about 25 yards out.

The Geoducks nearly got one back about one minute later when a 30-yard drive by Martín Ramirez crashed off of the crossbar, having beaten Northwest keeper Daniel Christenson.

Evergreen finally got on the scoreboard at 79:01 when Ryan Porch tucked the ball past Christenson after a nice lofted pass from Tanner Williams. The goal was the third of the season for Porch, tying him with Williams and Willie Spurr for the team lead, while Williams collected his team-best fourth assist.

After that the Geoducks didn't have another clear opportunity at Christenson's goal as the Eagles held on for the victory.

Christenson finished the match with three saves while Guerra had one for the hosts. Corner kicks were in favor of Evergreen by a 4-3 total.

The Geoducks hit the road for their next two conference matches. They play at Multnomah University in Portland at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, and at Walla Walla University at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3.