A 74th-minute own goal proved to be the difference as the Trinity Western Spartans lost 2-1 in pre-season action.
The Spartans women鈥檚 soccer team was in Corvallis, Ore. to face the NCAA Division 1 Oregon State Beavers last week (Aug. 11).
Rachel Hutchinson put the Canadian visitors ahead 1-0 in the 25th minute, scoring on a free kick, but the Beavers struck twice in the second half.
The Beavers Kaillen Fried equalized in the 53rd minute and TWU surrendered an own goal 21 minutes later.
鈥淭hey were better than we were, but not by much,鈥� said Spartans coach Graham Roxburgh.
鈥淏ut the heart my team showed, after just five days of training camp, was superb. I鈥檓 really pleased. Our team battled and showed toughness against a very strong and athletic team.
鈥淚 thought Seina (Kashima)was dangerous and took her player on regularly. Rachel was excellent in her movement. Our midfield hung in their and the likes of Brooklyn (Tidder) Kat Chin and Amy Gartke were awesome.鈥�
OSU finished the night with a 16-7 edge in shots and a 3-1 advantage in corner kicks.
鈥淚 was impressed with Oregon State,鈥� Roxburgh said. 鈥淭hey had three or four very dangerous players. They were organized and made us work really hard.鈥�
TWU goalie Christina Oliverio stopped two of the four shots she faced.
TWU is back in action on Aug. 24, when the Spartans host Western Washington (NCAA Div. II), who are the defending national champions and opened the year ranked No. 1 nationally by the United Soccer Coaches Division II preseason poll.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. TWU鈥檚 Chase Office Field.
The Spartans open their Canada West regular season Sept. 8-9 at home when they host UBC and Victoria.
Spartan men drop pair
The TWU men鈥檚 team is off to an 0-2 start in pre-season play.
The Spartans fell 4-0 to the Seattle University Redhawks (NCAA Division 1) and 2-0 to Northwest University (NAIA) earlier this week (Aug. 13 and 14).
The games were in Seattle and Kirkland, Wash., respectively.
Noe Meza and Sergio scored in the first half while Cody Buchanon struck for a pair in the second half of the first game.
鈥淲e鈥檙e completely disappointed with the scoreline,鈥� said Spartans coach Mike Shearon.
鈥淥bviously giving up four goals is never good and not scoring any isn鈥檛 good either. But I thought we had a few chances in the first half that we could have gotten one, and I thought we gave up a couple of goals that we could have dealt with better.
鈥淏ut in the end, we played a quality side today that played a high tempo and it鈥檚 a good thing for us to learn how to play at that pace and figure out what we need to work on.鈥�
James Hielema stopped seven of the 11 shots he faced.
鈥淲e played a fairly young roster and we made a few mistakes, but we knew that might happen with a bit more youth on the field,鈥� Shearon said.
鈥淎t the same time, it鈥檚 not too dissimilar to yesterday鈥檚. We could have prevented a few goals that we gave up and it was a good learning experience.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what the pre-season is about. It鈥檚 about making us better. With 30 minutes left, I put out a lot more of our veterans and players who will play a lot of minutes for us this year and we took over more of the game.
鈥淏oth groups played well enough to tie the game and possibly win it, but we didn鈥檛. Obviously, we鈥檙e not happy with the result, but hopefully we鈥檒l have learned from our mistakes by the time the games start to count.鈥�
The Spartans concluded their pre-season road trip with games against Oregon State on Aug. 17 and Seattle Pacific on Aug. 19.
The team begins the Canada West regular season on Aug. 25.
