TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
SPRINGFIELD – A second-half comeback pushed the Southern Oregon men's soccer team past Rocky Mountain (Mont.) on Tuesday for the second time in six weeks. This time around, it kept SOU's season alive.
The Raiders, seeded No. 3 in the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank, rallied for a 2-1 win over the No. 6-seeded Battlin' Bears in the quarterfinal round at Les Schwab Sports Park. They advanced to play No. 2 seed and 19th-ranked Oregon Tech at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals.
Sophomore forward
Alan Gaytan erased their 1-0 halftime deficit in the 53rd minute with his 10th goal of the season. To make it happen,
Noah Addie sent a corner kick past the far post to
Zak Woolley, who headed a pass in front of the goal that enabled a routine header finish for Gaytan.
Gaytan was also in on the winner in the 83rd minute, crossing from near the right corner to the far post and connecting with freshman defender
Elijah Garriss. On his first touch, Garriss lined in his first career goal.
"I thought we played with a consistent level of focus for 90 minutes and executed our game plan," SOU coach
Davie Carmichael said. "The lads battled hard but also controlled the tempo of the game and possession."
The Raiders have gotten past the quarterfinal round in each of the last four CCC Tournaments. They'll bring a 15-3 overall record into their matchup with Oregon Tech, which was the conference's regular-season co-champion with Warner Pacific.
The Owls (15-1-1) only have one loss on their ledger: a 1-0 decision at SOU on Sept. 24. They set up another tilt by defeating Evergreen (Wash.) 2-0 in their quarterfinal game.
Warner Pacific will meet No. 4-seeded Corban in the other semifinal. If WPU advances, then the SOU-OIT winner will get an automatic bid to the national tournament. If Corban defeats WPU, then the tournament champion will receive the automatic bid. The final is set for noon Friday at Eugene's Civic Park.
The Battlin' Bears ended their season at 9-6-1. They'd also lost 2-1 to the Raiders in overtime on Oct. 1, when Gaytan punched in a 79th-minute equalizer and
Luis Navarrete tallied the golden goal in the 95th.
They had the Raiders on the ropes again Tuesday after Zach Wall assisted Quique Garcia for the first goal in the 34th minute. They only put one more shot on goal the rest of the way.
