BOX SCORE

McMINNVILLE, Ore. – Sophomore Rileigh Mankin (Manteca, Calif.) drilled home a penalty kick in the 12th minute, as Corban's women's soccer team withstood an offensive barrage by NCAA Division III Linfield for a 1-0 win Saturday at Wildcat Field.

"It was definitely not our best effort of the season tonight," said head coach Marty Ziesemer. "The ten-day layoff may have hurt us more than help us. We couldn't get any kind of consistent rhythym all night, as part of that was Linfield caused some issues with great play and we didn't help ourselves with our passing and winning the ball. Our defenders really stepped up and we were able to keep their quality goal scorers from having many chances. We were fortunate to come away with the win. With some challenging matches coming up we have to step up, which I am sure we will."

After a foul was called on Linfield's goalkeeper at the 11:06 mark, Mankin calmly stepped up to the penalty circle and unleashed the game's opening shot into the back of the net for the early 1-0 Warrior lead.

In a defensive-minded game in which both teams combined for 11 shots, Corban was held to a season-low three shots with two being on-goal. The host Wildcats unleashed six shots over the opening 45 minutes with freshman goalkeeper Kaitlyn Mendenhall (Windsor, Calif.) registering a game-high three saves before sophomore net-minder Alexis Beattie (Brea, Calif.) stood between the pipes for Corban in the second half and watched only two Linfield shots come her way with neither being on-target.

On paper, Linfield looked like the better team only to have Corban put one shot into the back of the net for the eventual game-winner en route to securing its fourth win of the season.

In the 72nd minute, Linfield was whistled for a red card meaning that the Wildcats would play a man down for the final 18 minutes. Unfortunately, Corban could not capitalize on the extra man attack but did turn up the defensive pressure to secure the hard-fought, one-goal win.

Mendenhall made a game-high three saves in 45 minutes of action, while Beattie helped Corban earn its third shutout of the season. On the other hand, Linfield's Taylor Collinsworth stopped only one shot that she faced in suffering the loss.

With tonight's result, Corban improves to 4-1-0 and Linfield drops its first game of the season falling to 3-1-0. The Warriors will return to the pitch on Friday, September 16th, when they take on the NAIA's No. 6-ranked The Master's College beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the first game of the Menlo Tournament in Atherton, California.