SALEM, Ore. – The Corban University Women's Soccer team (4-1-1, 0-0-1) kicked off the beginning of Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) play with a tie against the Saints of Carroll College (3-1-3, 0-0-1) in a 1-1 final score.
"The team looked strong tonight in possession and built forward well," Warriors' Head Coach Whitney Pitalo shared following the conclusion of today's match.
"We struggled to finish our chances, but I'm proud of the team's fight. We will get back to work and continue to improve in anticipation for a big weekend around the corner," Pitalo continued.
In an extremely tight contest, neither team was willing to give an inch of wiggle room to the other, pulling even in nearly every statistical category. However, on the offensive side of the ball, the Warriors clearly held the advantage, especially in a lopsided first half that resulted in no action for either side. Corban outshot the Saints 5-1 in the first half, finding multiple opportunities on the outside edge, but consistently being left empty-handed by the end of the offensive possession.
Just two minutes into the second half, Corban finally found the back of the net, as sophomore forward Alysia Alvarado found junior forward Maria Juarez streaking in front of the net, who gave the ball just enough of a tap to make Saints' goalkeeper Sarah Conway miss her save attempt.
The goal was Juarez' first of the game, and a redemption goal for a missed opportunity she had in the first half that was a sure scoring attempt. Alvarado earned her second assist of the year, which now leads the team.
Carroll wasted very little time in knotting this contest back up, as the team's leading scorer midfielder/forward Blair Stapleton took a long cross from forward Sydney Coulter, who beat Warriors' junior goalkeeper Makida Herbert to the punch for her conference leading seventh goal of the season and is still averaging 1.00 goals per game.
More opportunities presented themselves for each team, but nobody was able to capitalize in what would end in a conference opening tie for both squads.
Juarez led all players with three shots, all of which were on goal and one of which slipped through for the Warriors' lone score, while senior midfielder Mei Suetsugu tacked on another three shots and two shots on goal. Herbert (4-1-1) earned her first draw of the year by allowing just the single goal from Stapleton while deflecting five saves.
Stapleton found herself at the top of the offensive leaderboards for the Saints with two shots, both on goal, and a goal scored. Conway (1-1-1) hauled in seven saves and allowed one goal in the draw decision.
The Warriors ended the contest outshooting the Saints 12-7 and held the slight advantage in shots on goal, 8-6. The two teams held even with a pair of corner kicks each, while. Carroll doubled the amount of team fouls committed by Corban, 14-7.
The Warrior Women's Soccer team will be back in action next weekend for quite possibly their biggest weekend of home soccer this season, as Corban is set to host #22 Eastern Oregon University on Friday at 12:30pm PDT, followed by a battle with (RV) College of Idaho on Saturday at the same start time.
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