SALEM, Ore. – With eight minutes remaining, the Corban University Men's Soccer team found a way to avoid a loss on their home field, as the Warriors battled the Warner Pacific University Knights for ninety minutes and walked away with a 2-2 draw against the defending Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) champions.
"Extremely proud of the squad tonight," Warriors' head coach Corbin Bowers stated. "We challenged them to play like Warriors tonight and they did exactly that. We showed resilience to equalize twice and even had opportunities to win it. This result continues to give us hope in our playoff race and we now turn our attention to senior day tomorrow."
The Warriors (2-4-6, 2-2-4) and Knights (7-3-2, 4-2-2) have been historically known for their tight contest results over their fifteen-year history, with the past five results either ending in draws or single-goal victories. This afternoon was no different between the two CCC powerhouse programs, with momentum shifting back-and-forth over the entirety of the match and eventually ending in the third tie between these two squads since 2017.
Warner Pacific was able to jump on the board first in the 25th minute, as midfielder Chanin Orlandin was found streaking up the right side of the field by midfielder Miguel Andalon-Ordaz, who rocketed a shot into the back left corner of the net to give the road team an early lead.
Each program would fall quiet for the remainder of the opening half, with plenty of opportunities to either even the playing field or double the lead that all fell short. However, just three minutes into the second half following the halftime break, graduate student Nate Sherwood scored the first of two clutch goals for the Warriors.
With the ball bounding all over the penalty box and failing to be cleared, Sherwood took the chance to settle ball and find a crease in the defense, scoring with ease to know the contest at one-all with nearly an entire half still to be played.
Ten minutes later, Orlandin would find the back of the net once again to elevate the Knights into a 2-1 lead, as his bracing goal was assisted by midfielder Gabriel Rincon and tripled his season goal total in just a single match.
Determined not to begin their Senior Weekend with a loss, the Warriors peppered Warner Pacific's defense with a plethora of shots, many of which were deflected and denied by WPU goalkeeper Josepher Juarez-Cruz. As time dwindled from the scoreboard, the Navy and Gold's opportunities to secure a point-worthy match thus declined as well, until true freshman midfielder Samuel Montes scored his second career goal in style once again.
After Juarez-Cruz made another unbelievable save, Montes was there to collect the rebound and fire off a shot, which had no chance of being defended and sent the Warrior Nation fans into a frenzy on the sideline. Montes has now scored a game-winner and game-tying goal for his first two collegiate scores, each of which came with less than ten minutes remaining in the match.
Try as each squad might, including a game-winning goal by Corban that was waved off by a penalty, the Warriors' sixth draw of the season ended with extremely even results by both programs. Warner Pacific led in total shots with twenty-one on the day compared to Corban's fifteen, while the Knights held a slight 10-8 margin in shots on goal.
Despite Juarez-Cruz' best efforts with six saves, it was Warriors' redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Pureco that would earn the game-high mark in saves today, hauling in eight as he earned his fifth draw result of the season.
On an individual basis, Orlandin and Knights' midfielder Pedro Torrest each secured five shots this afternoon, with four of Torrest's shots coming on goal. Corban redshirt sophomore forward Irwin Leon took four shots for the Warriors and two on goal.
The Warriors return to the OAC for their final home game of the 2023 season tomorrow at 4:30pm against the Multnomah University Lion (3-8-1, 1-6-1). The team's Senior Day festivities will begin before warmups around 3:30pm.
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