Thursday, 6 p.m.: SOU at Northwest Christian - Live Stats

Saturday, 1 p.m.: SOU at Corban - Live Stats - Live Stream

ASHLAND – Leaving behind a turbulent preseason, the Southern Oregon University soccer team showed last week that it's ready to be competitive in the Cascade Conference.

This week the Raiders (2-7 overall, 1-1 CCC) will see if they're ready to be competitive away from home, traveling to Northwest Christian (4-6, 0-2) for a 6 p.m. matchup on Thursday and to Corban (5-5-1, 0-2) for a 1 p.m. meeting on Saturday.

The Raider attack broke out in a 4-1 triumph last Thursday over Evergreen. Saturday against Northwest, the team picked to finish second in the CCC, they proved to be a worthy foe before Acacia Johnson bit them with the lone goal in the 75th minute.

Northwest Christian and Corban both started conference play with shutout losses at top-ranked Concordia and Warner Pacific.

SOU's remaining regular-season schedule consists of five road games and two home games. The Raiders will return to Raider Stadium next week to host Eastern Oregon on Thursday and College of Idaho on Saturday.

They went 3-1 on the road in CCC play last season, but met NCU and Corban in Ashland – playing the Beacons to a scoreless draw and winning 5-3 against Corban.

Spreading the love: In a departure from the last few seasons, no single Raider has established herself as a go-to scorer. Instead, four different players are tied for the team lead with two goals each: Jacquie Galvez (Temecula, Calif./Temecula Valley), Presley Lambert (Santa Clarita, Calif./Hart), Kendra Madaras-Kelly (Boise, Idaho/Mountain View) and Megan McArthur (San Jose, Calif./Presentation). Allyson Ward (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa) and McArthur have logged two assists apiece.

The offensive explosion against Evergreen was significant in that the Raiders equaled their goal total from the previous five games combined. They generated a season-high 17 shots against the Geoducks and then got off 13 against Northwest. Their previous best had been 10 shots, and they'd hit six or less on four occasions.

About Northwest Christian: The Beacons were to picked to finish seventh in the CCC after going 2-5-2 in 2013 while scoring just six goals. They've already been blanked six times this year, as 14 of their 19 goals were scored in two nonleague wins over Mills (Calif.). Janelle Richards (7 goals, 2 assists), Stevie Harrison (5 goals, 2 assists) and Maddi Bartholomew (4 goals, 2 assists) are their leaders.

SOU has never lost in the all-time series, leading 7-0-1. 

About Corban: The Warriors were picked to finish third in the CCC after going 6-2-1 in 2013, when they surrendered five goals at SOU and five goals in their other eight games combined. They feature a couple returning All-CCC performers in midfielder Randi Donahue and defender Olivia Erskine, while Katelyn Fekkes (4 goals, 1 assist) and Sadee Kallis (3 goals, 2 assists) own the most points thus far. Concordia was unable to put them away until the 71st minute.

SOU trails the all-time series, 5-18-1.