ASHLAND – Southern Oregon brought a variety bag of tricks – including a free kick, a penalty kick, a put-back and superior one-on-one play – to build its most lopsided win against Corban ever in a Cascade Conference rout Friday at Raider Stadium.
Evan Norconk and
Adrian Villegas deposited their fifth goals of the season, but plenty of other Raiders got in on the act in a 5-1 decision that made them 7-1 overall and 3-0 in conference play.
Though unbeaten against the Warriors (0-3-3, 0-1-1) since 2017, they'd never before scored more than two goals in the series. By halftime of the latest installment, they led 3-0.
Villegas got them started in the ninth minute, when a
Tybalt Thornberry shot deflected back to him atop the box and he skipped it into the bottom right corner. Thornberry was credited with his first assist of the season. Villegas, a senior midfielder, has a streak of goal involvements in six straight games for the second time in his career, a distinction no other player in team history shares.
Alex Hjulmand took an assist from
Alan Gaytan in the 19th minute, crossing up a defender and firing from straight on from 15 yards out for his first goal as a Raider. In the 34th minute, Norconk bullied his way into the box and scored from nearly the same spot.
Gaytan made it 4-0 by converting a PK in the 47th minute. In the 84th,
Sam Walker added the finishing touches with a 22-yard free kick.
Since taking their first loss of the season, the Raiders have outscored three CCC opponents 8-1 combined. Only they, College of Idaho and Oregon Tech own perfect conference records at 3-0.
Nate Sherwood assisted Evan Hoover for Corban's only goal in the 56th minute to get the Warriors within three. They only had one shot on target the rest of the day as SOU keeper
Casey Ruvolo finished with 4 saves.
The game was the Raiders' first in Ashland this season. They'll be at Raider Stadium again at noon Saturday to face Bushnell (4-1-2, 0-1-1).