ASHLAND –
Mustafa Daggig's first goal of 2026 arrived with an exclamation point in the No. 16-ranked Southern Oregon men's soccer team's 2-1 defeat of Carroll (Mont.) on Friday at Raider Stadium's Laurel Field.
In a 1-1 game, Daggig took a pass from
Elias Ahmed and brought it 60 yards down the left sideline to score the game-winner in the 36th minute. The senior forward from Portland dribbled past a few Saints, went through a couple more and finally arrived in the box, where he ended his electrifying run with a right-footed strike that deflected off a defender and skipped over keeper Noah Jordan to find the net.
The Raiders – playing with their highest ranking since 2019 after breaking into the NAIA Top 25 on Thursday – went to 7-0-1 overall and retained first place on the Cascade Conference table at 4-0.
The Saints (3-3-2, 2-1-1) had the advantage early before quickly spiraling. Felix Billard, the CCC's 2024 Offensive Player of the Year, tapped in the rebound of his own penalty kick to draw first blood in the 25th minute. But in the span of a few minutes after that, they lost Billard to an injury, they committed a foul in the box that enabled
Ariel De Dios Cruz to equalize with a penalty kick, and they went a man down as their Cyrille Wangama was sent off for effusively disputing the penalty.
De Dios Cruz's goal – and Wangama's ejection – occurred in the 30th minute. The junior forward has tallied in three consecutive outings since returning from injury four games ago.
Daggig's goal was the 17th of his career, putting him at No. 8 on SOU's all-time list.
It put the Raiders in the driver's seat, though Carroll, even shorthanded, generated 20 shots and made Raider keeper
Daniel Espinosa stop six in the second half alone. Carroll got seven saves out of Jordan.
Entering the contest, the Saints had been 24-2-3 in conference play since the start of 2024. The Raiders hadn't defeated them since 2023.
SOU has another critical matchup at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against No. 22 Rocky Mountain (Mont.). After recording a 3-1 win on Friday at Oregon Tech, Rocky has outscored its CCC opponents 15-3 combined.
