COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. –
Papa Yansane's 81st-minute goal enabled the Southern Oregon men's soccer team to end the regular season on a high note with a 1-0 win against Walla Walla (Wash.) on Sunday at Wolves Field.
The win boosted the Raiders (10-4-4 overall) one spot to sixth place on the Cascade Conference table at 5-4-3. They'll start the CCC Championships presented by U.S. Bank on Nov. 8 against No. 3 seed Rocky Mountain (Mont.) in a 4 p.m. quarterfinal matchup at Medford's Lithia & Driveway Fields.
They'd clinched a spot in the eight-team tournament on Friday night by pairing their draw at Warner Pacific with ninth-place Corban's loss. The win against the Wolves (3-9-0, 3-9-0) gave them double-digit victories for the 10th consecutive full season.
The Raiders were knocking on the door all afternoon but had nothing to show for their first 15 shots on goal. They finally broke through on a run started by
Harry Cullen. He passed ahead to
Daniel Palomino, who took the ball down the right sideline and crossed to the far post, giving Yansane his third goal and second game-winner of the year.
SOU snapped a five-game winless streak, within which there were three draws. Another such outcome would have left the Raiders as the No. 7 seed.
They dominated the run of play, holding the Wolves without a shot on goal in their seventh shutout.
Their quarterfinal matchup with Rocky will be the teams' first in the tournament since 2021. Rocky took the regular-season meeting, 1-0 on Oct. 2 in Billings.
Eastern Oregon will be the No. 1 seed in the tournament after capturing its first ever regular-season title. The Mountaineers are also the defending tourney champions.