KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Newly appointed head coach Corbin Bowers found the first win of his Corban University Men's Soccer career in unprecedented fashion, upsetting Cascade Collegiate Conference leading Oregon Tech on their home field to the sound of a 3-2 final score, with the Warriors finding the back of the net in the 87th minute to silence the Owls and hand them their first home loss in over a year.

"Loved to see us put together a gritty team performance," Bowers stated shortly after the contest concluded. "We challenged the guys to roll with the punches and told them down, but never out. I believe we executed our game plan throughout the match. We will take this week to zone in on fixing our mistakes and taking our brand of soccer to the next level. That one felt great, and now we turn to a home stretch where points will be crucial."

Corban's leading assister, senior midfielder Gian Gargurevich, finally broke through for his first goal of the season in just ten minutes of action today in Klamath Falls, rocketing a shot from thirty yards out that found the top of the netting over an outstretched OIT goalkeeper to put the Warriors (1-3-3, 1-1-1) up 1-0 on the road.

The first half was a complete role reversal for the Navy and Gold this afternoon, as instead of outshooting their opponent and trailing on the scoreboard, Corban had only three shots but made the most of their few opportunities. Two of their shots came on goal, with Gargurevich's early score being the only points up to the halftime buzzer. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech (5-2-1, 3-1-0) had seven shots with multiple opportunities in front of the net, but all of them were either shanked or defended by Corban's backline to earn a first half clean sheet.

The Navy and Gold took their first two-goal lead of the season at the three-minute mark of the second half, as redshirt sophomore midfielder Bryan Nicolas found Corban's leading scorer, redshirt sophomore forward Irwin Leon, in the middle of the field unattended, nutmegging an Owl defender along the way to juke the goalkeeper for a wide open goal.

Oregon Tech would mount a major comeback to tie the contest in a matter of minutes, thanks to the heroics of forward Dalton Rideout. He found the back of the net on two separate occasions in just four minutes, with the first assisted by midfielder Yuki Enomoto, and the second from forward Andrew Pasang with a hockey assist by defender Cooper Hunt. What was previously a 2-0 Corban lead was now knotted at two apiece with just over twenty-five minutes remaining.

Both the Warriors and Owls fought back-and-forth for last portion of the contest, each side finding incredible opportunities to score but coming up empty handed on every occasion. With time quickly fleeting, true freshman midfielder Samuel Montes took advantage of an open penalty box in front of him, curving his shot up and into the top left corner to give Corban a 3-2 lead on the first goal of his career with under four minutes to play.

Despite OIT's best efforts, the Warriors would earn their first win of the season by securing the road upset and leave southern Oregon with a hard-fought split. This is the 20th win of the all-time series for Corban against Oregon Tech out of twenty-five total matches and their first since the 2021 season.

Leon scored his team-leading fifth goal of the year, while Gargurevich and Montes finally found their footing from distance to lock up the road victory. Leon and Gargurevich each had three shots with two on goal for the Warriors in their winning efforts. Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Isaac Pureco earned the victory before leaving last minute, swatting one save and allowing two goals. Freshman goalkeeper Miguel Trujillo came in to play the final 1:49 and earned a crucial save to prevent the Owls a comeback opportunity.

Oregon Tech midfielder had a game-high four shots but couldn't find the back of the net, with reserve forward Rideout being the difference maker on the offensive end for OIT. Goalkeeper Ryan Solis took his second loss of the season by allowing three goals of hauling in three saves.

The Warriors kick off a three-week homestand next weekend at the Outdoor Athletic Complex, beginning with the University of Providence (4-4-0, 2-2-0) on Friday, September 29th at 12:30pm PT.

Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter  l Instagram l Snapchat l  YouTube l  Email

Download our App: iOS (iPhone/iPad) l Android