OSU & Michigan State Win Again at Diadora Classic

Salem-News.com Sports

CORVALLIS - The Oregon State men’s soccer team earned a 2-1 win over Sacramento State and captured first place in the 2006 Diadora Classic on Saturday night at Lorenz Field. In the first game of the night, Michigan State won in overtime for the second time in two days with its 2-1 win over UC Riverside.

Although not a true tournament, Oregon State earned first place in the Diadora Classic due to the final tiebreaker. The Beavers and Michigan State each won twice and had a +2 goal differential, but OSU scored a total of four goals and MSU had three.

Junior forward Nick Webb (Bellingham, Wash./Squalicum HS/Western Washington) scored both of tonight’s goals for the Beavers, who improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2002.

“The guys worked hard tonight and I think at times we did some very good things and at times we looked two games into the season,” OSU Coach Dana Taylor said. “Bottom line is we got out with a win. I thought Sacramento State was a very good team with eight seniors playing out there. We are still quite young. Late in the game it came down to who was going to battle. I thought in the 85th minute we basically let them back into the game. It was a good goal on their end, but there was no pressure in the midfield.”

The Beavers dodged a bullet in just the fourth minute. Sacramento State’s Kurtis Lindsey sent in a long free kick and it was headed in at the left post by Oscar Sandoval, but he was ruled offside.

Webb nearly scored a goal in the 37th minute, as he got past the defense and around the goalkeeper. But he was forced too far left toward the end line, giving him no angle to score, and while his centering pass went right in front of the goal, Sacramento State’s defense was there to clear it away.

But Webb made his way past the Sacramento State defense again about three minutes later, and this time he made the Hornets pay. Sophomore defender Daniel Leach (Scarborough, Queensland, Australia) took the ball near midfield and chipped a high ball to the edge of the box. Webb ran on to it, got past the goalkeeper, outmuscled a defender and poked it home with a sliding effort in the 40th minute.

Sacramento State (0-2) had a decent chance to tie the game in the final 15 seconds of the first half, as Andrew Tamm hit a hard shot from the edge of the box, but OSU sophomore goalkeeper Packy Deenihan (Pleasanton, Calif./Foothill HS) made a nice save to parry the ball away, and the Beavers kept their 1-0 lead at halftime.

With 22 minutes left, Sacramento State made another close attempt, as Jesse Manton had a header go inches wide of the left post.

Oregon State’s second goal was a brother act, as junior midfielder Mason Webb (Bellingham, Wash./Squalicum HS) chased a ball down near the left end line. The goalkeeper also went out to get the ball, and when Mason Webb centered the ball in front of the goal, the goalkeeper wasn’t there, and twin brother Nick Webb slid on to it and knocked the ball into the back of the net in the 74th minute.

Sacramento State pulled a goal back in the 86th minute, as Ryan Rhoads took a pass from Tamm and hit a rocket from 25 yards that found the upper left corner of the net.

The Hornets’ hope for a second goal took a hit when Jack Jones was red carded just 30 seconds after the goal was scored, and they had no shots the rest of the way.

OSU returns to action next weekend, as the Beavers head to Las Vegas to play Denver (Friday, Sept. 1ST) and UNLV (Sunday, Sept. 3RD).

In the evening’s first game, both Michigan State (2-0) and UC Riverside (0-2) had a flurry of chances in the first few minutes of the contest, but opportunities became a little more scarce until MSU broke through in the 54th minute. The Spartans’ Zac Scaffidi took the ball up the middle of the field, and passed off to his right to Kenzo Webster. Webster narrowly beat the offside trap, went in for a one-on-one against the UCR goalkeeper and scored.

UC Riverside had a tremendous chance with 25 minutes left in the game. The Highlanders drew a free kick right at the top of the box, 19 yards away. UCR’s Andrew Hills hit a low, hard shot toward the left post, but Michigan State goalkeeper Jason Tillman made a diving stop to his right.

The Highlanders made one count came just a little more than two minutes later, however, as UCR’s Andrew Villalobos took the ball on the left end line, and crossed it in front of the goal. The ball deflected to teammate Brandon Plummer, who one-timed it in from just a few yards away for the equalizer in the 68th minute.

There weren’t too many attempts in overtime prior to the game-winner, which came in the 110th minute (just 46 seconds remained on the clock). MSU’s Doug DeMartin chipped the ball toward the box from midfield, and Louis Stephens III won the race to the ball. He went in one-on-one against the goalkeeper and found the inside of the left post for the game-winner.

OSU 1-1---2

SAC 0-1---1

Goals: Nick Webb (Daniel Leach), OSU, 39:05; Nick Webb (Mason Webb), OSU, 73:58; Ryan Rhoads (Andrew Tamm), SAC, 85:02.

Shots: OSU 7, SAC 7 Corner Kicks: OSU 6, SAC 5 Fouls: OSU 17, SAC 23 Saves: OSU 4, SAC 3

UCR 0-1-0-0---1

MSU 0-1-0-1---2

Goals: Kenzo Webster (Zac Scaffidi), MSU, 53:08; Brandon Plummer (Andrew Villalobos), UCR, 67:04; Louis Stephens III (Doug DeMartin), MSU, 109:14.

Shots: UCR 8, MSU 16 Corner Kicks: UCR 3, MSU 2 Fouls: UCR 30, MSU 27 Saves: UCR 7, MSU 3

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