LA GRANDE, Ore. – A final-minute score allowed the Corban University Men's Soccer team to escape La Grande with a crucial point as they make their final efforts to qualify for the postseason, playing to a 2-2 draw with Eastern Oregon University to throw a wrench in the Mounties' Senior Day festivities.
"We had moments of good soccer and moments where our game plan worked," Warriors' head coach Corbin Bowers stated shortly after their seventh draw of the season. "Unfortunately, we were not able to execute for 90 minutes and that cost us two goals. I put a lot of value in the team being able to respond after being down and scoring late to earn a valuable point for our playoff push."
The Warriors (2-6-7, 2-4-5) erased their scoreless weekend just five minutes into today contest, as redshirt sophomore forward Irwin Leon found freshman midfielder Samuel Montes for the early score, providing Corban with their first lead this weekend and gaining some early momentum.
Forty minutes of shutout soccer was abruptly ended with two lightning fast goals by the Mountaineers (3-7-5, 3-5-3) to close out the half, scoring in the 41st and 45th minutes to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room. The first goal was scored by forward Marco Bravo and assisted by midfielder Daniel Kropf, while Kropf scored his own on the second attempt with three seconds remaining in the half and was assisted by forward Carlos Rodriguez.
Despite only six total team shots for the entire afternoon, the Navy and Gold were clutch in using their little opportunities in a big way, and none more important than a shot by redshirt sophomore Bryan Nicolas with under one minute remaining. Junior defender Cade Ficek pulled off an incredible juke up the righthand side of the field to find himself all alone in crossing territory, sending the ball into the penalty box and connecting with Nicolas to pull off a wild come-from-behind effort, which eventually lead to their draw result after the final 42 seconds ran off the scoreboard.
The Mountaineers outshot the Warriors by a wide margin of 24-6, yet the final score showed that Corban was able to make the most of their chances, taking only three shots on goal the entire match yet scoring on two of them. Montes was the team leader in shots this evening with a pair, his first providing the Navy and Gold with an opening score.
Warriors' redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Pureco accepted his seventh draw decision of the season with six saves under his belt, hauling in a handful of clutch deflections that kept Eastern Oregon off the board.
Corban men's soccer will now prepare for their final weekend of the regular season on the road once again, as they'll make their first pit stop on Friday in College Place, Washington for a matchup with Walla Walla University (0-11-0, 0-10-0) at 2pm PT.
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