pinney
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo
Al Case, Ashland Daily Photo.
0
Northwest Christian NCU (8-8-2)
1
Winner Southern Oregon SOU (13-6-1)
Northwest Christian NCU
(8-8-2)
0
Final
1
Southern Oregon SOU
(13-6-1)
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Northwest Christian NCU 0 0 0
Southern Oregon SOU 0 1 1

Game Recap: Men's Soccer | | SOU Sports Information

SOU eliminates NCU, sets up rematch with Corban for championship

SPRINGFIELD – Southern Oregon's defense has gotten no less impenetrable with the start of postseason play. And by eliminating Northwest Christian, 1-0, in Saturday's semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships, the Raiders earned a shot at righting their only regular-season wrong.

Mitchell Pinney scored the lone goal in the 66th minute and the top-seeded Raiders polished off their 12th shutout of the season against the fourth-seeded Beacons at the Willamalane Sports Complex.

At noon Monday in the championship game, they'll get a rematch with 13th-ranked Corban, the only team to beat them during the CCC play.

"The boys are hungry, and they weren't satisfied with a regular-season championship," SOU head coach Biniam Afenegus said. "We're all excited for another shot at Corban and I'm sure it's going to be a fun game."

In their semifinal game, the third-seeded Warriors knocked off regular-season co-champion Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in penalty kicks after 90 minutes of regulation and two overtime periods produced a scoreless draw. On Sept. 30 in Salem, they took a 2-0 decision from SOU.

Because the Raiders already received the CCC's first automatic bid to the NAIA Championships, Corban will get the second.

Against Northwest Christian – which SOU also defeated in the regular season, 2-0 – Pinney's fifth goal of the season and the 10th of his two-year Raider career was set up, following a turnover, by a through-ball from Logan Guler, who was credited with his first career assist. At the end of a diagonal run, Pinney received the pass and was left one-on-one with keeper Yayo Olvera, shooting from about 14 yards out to Olvera's left.

The Beacons were the first team in 10 games to out-shoot the Raiders, 13-8, and Olvera saved their other three shots on goal.

"We were playing pretty direct and had some opportunities we just couldn't convert, but in the second half we did a good job of being composed, changing the point of attack and looking at other options," Afenegus said.

SOU keeper Wyatt Zabinksi was kept slightly busier than in Friday's 1-0 quarterfinal defeat of College of Idaho, which didn't put a shot on goal against the Raiders. He saved five Beacon attempts, including four in the first half to keep the game scoreless.

"For the most part, they were just lumping a lot of balls in there," Afenegus said. "We negated their long balls into the box and kept them from getting very good looks."

In Corban, the Raiders will face a team that has won three of the last four tournament titles and features CCC Offensive Player of the Year Timur Zhividze, who owns 60 career goals.

SOU is 0-3 in its previous matchups with the Warriors.

"I thought the last time we played them we were maybe a little tight, a little nervous," Afenegus said. "We have a better idea of what we're good at now and just need to play our game."
 
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