OLYMPIA, Wash. – Allowing a goal in the opening three minutes of play set the tone for the remainder of the match for the Corban University Men's Soccer team, as the Warriors dropped a 3-1 decision this afternoon against The Evergreen State College in western Washington.

"We didn't play at our best level today, and this match was humbling for all of us," explained Warriors' head coach Josh Rios Noonkester. "Credit to Evergreen State for scoring their three goals they earned. I am confident our group will learn from this experience. I look forward to the response tomorrow versus Northwest."

At the 2:19 mark in the first half, the Geoducks (2-7-0, 2-4-0) scored on a free kick opportunity thanks to midfielder Emmanuel Nicasio who managed to squeeze a shot from 21 yards out into the back of the Warriors' (4-6-1, 3-2-1) netting.

Nicasio would assist on the Geoducks second goal in the 29th minute, providing Evergreen State a comfortable 2-0 lead that they would hold at the halftime break once midfielder Kolby Juarez collected Nicasio's rebounded pass and push the ball in-between the pipes.

With all the momentum on the Geoducks' side of the pitch, the home team scored their third goal at 78:04 on the clock thanks to a connection from defender Alejandro Gallegos to midfielder Juan Mendez, all but sealing their second victory in Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) play.

Within the same minute as the third Evergreen State goal, freshman forward Alexander Guindy scored his first career collegiate goal on a cross by junior midfielder Santiago Gonzalez, scoring on a shot just six yards from the goal line to escape the road shutout.

From a statistical perspective, the Warriors had nearly just as many scoring opportunities this afternoon as the Geoducks, as Corban tallied 17 shots with five on goal compared to 19 attempts for Evergreen state, with nine shots either resulting in goals or saves by redshirt junior goalkeeper Isaac Pureco. Geoducks' goalkeeper Brendan Gribek played the complete 90 minutes and secured the win on his season record with four saves record, while Pureco nabbed six saves. Both Castano and Gallegos led the field with four shots apiece for their squads.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Navy and Gold will battle Northwest University (2-6-3, 0-3-3) at 3pm in Kirkland before returning to Salem for another week of training between conference weekends.

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