CCC CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY U.S. BANK
TUESDAY – QUARTERFINALS
5 p.m. – (8) Corban 1, (1) Oregon Tech 0
5 p.m. – (2) Eastern Oregon 1, (7) Carroll 0
8 p.m. – (3) Rocky Mountain 1, (6) College of Idaho 0 (2OT)
8 p.m. – (5) Southern Oregon 1, (4) Northwest 0 (OT)
WEDNESDAY – SEMIFINALS
7 p.m. – (2) Eastern Oregon 3, (8) Corban 0
7 p.m. – (3) Rocky Mountain 0, (5) Southern Oregon 0 (RMC advances on PKs, 3-1)
FRIDAY – CHAMPIONSHIP
2 p.m. – Semifinal winners
SPRINGFIELD – A sixth consecutive shutout for the Southern Oregon women's soccer team was spoiled in penalty kicks against Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in the semifinal round of the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank on Wednesday night.
The fifth-seeded Raiders (11-5-3) and third-seeded Bears (13-3-2) settled on a scoreless draw after 110 minutes of action at Les Schwab Park, but SOU was denied on one of its shootout attempts and misfired on two of its three others. RMC was perfect on three tries, advancing to play in Friday's final against second-seeded Eastern Oregon.
The Raiders, who were vying for their first CCC Tournament championship game appearance, will await Monday's announcement of the 46-team NAIA Championship Opening Round field to learn if the season will be extended. They'll hope a résumé that includes NAIA Top 25 triumphs – notably, wins against the Nos. 8 (Westmont) and 11 (Vanguard) teams in the current coaches' poll – will be enough to earn one of 19-20 at-large bids.
The Bears remained a thorn in their sides. The Raiders have won once in the teams' last seven matchups and dropped a 1-0 heartbreaker during the regular season in Billings, letting the game-winner get through with less than a minute to play in regulation.
They had a handful of solid chances in the latest tilt, getting two shots on goal apiece from
Michala Denn and
Baylee Touey and another from
Ruth Hegstad.
Raider keeper
Jessie Selby kept the Bears off the board with eight saves for her third consecutive shutout and sixth of the season.
If this was the end, the Raiders will have gone their final 687 game minutes without allowing a goal.
For the second time in three years, though, they were eliminated in a penalty kicks.
After Denn opened the shootout by converting,
Kaya Baird's shot was stopped by keeper Maia Wetzel.
Misty Martinez – who registered Tuesday's quarterfinal golden goal against Northwest (Wash.) – then missed wide left, and
Maddie Casey missed high.
Wetzel, Mhari Smith and Lauryn Gamache put the game away by knocking in RMC's three attempts successively.
Before this week, the Raiders hadn't played back-to-back overtime games since the 2016 regular season.