ASHLAND – A week after sweating out a couple wins while giving up four goals on its home turf, the Southern Oregon men's soccer team answered any immediate questions about its defense Friday at Raider Stadium.

The Raiders also reinforced the pecking order in their rivalry with Oregon Tech, scoring a 1-0 Cascade Conference victory thanks to an 87th-minute goal from Alan Gaytan that marked his sixth in six games.

Both teams entered the matchup with perfect records, and the Raiders (7-0 overall, 3-0 CCC) left it as one of just two unbeaten teams in the 14-team circuit through three CCC games. Warner Pacific is the other after No. 23-ranked Corban fell Friday at College of Idaho, opening the door for SOU to break into the NAIA Top 25.

The Owls (6-1, 2-1) had scored at least two goals in each of their previous six games.

Liam Kalhagen helped shut them out with six saves, including a leaping effort to tip Jake Mitchell's near-make over the crossbar in the 69th minute. It registered as OIT's final shot on goal of the day.

It also set up the late heroics, which started when Adrian Villegas made a run down the left side. He passed through the defense and into the box to find Noah Addie in space, and Addie's shot in front of the goal was blocked. It deflected right back to him, though, and Addie flicked short pass to Gaytan as he came sliding in with his left leg to push in the game-winner – his third already.

"We're happy with the clean sheet and our defensive compactness and thought our attacking adjustments at halftime changed the momentum in our favor," SOU coach Davie Carmichael said. "Our lads had to dig deep in stages of today's game."

To his point, the Raiders didn't get off their first shot until the 34th minute, and didn't put one on target until the 47th. OIT keeper Joel Witts kept them off the board with seven saves.

But SOU's back line held on, getting 90 strong minutes apiece from Elijah Garriss, Brad Thomas and Zak Woolley, who fought to hold the Owls to three shots on goal in the second half.

The shutout was SOU's 20th in 26 home conference games since the start of 2017, and the third overall of the campaign.

The Raiders will travel to Montana next week, visiting Rocky Mountain on Friday and Providence on Saturday.