Beavers Rally to Beat Portland State, 2-1

The Beavers begin Pac-10 Conference play next weekend with games at Arizona State Friday, and Arizona on Sunday.

Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Trailing 1-0 with less than three minutes remaining, freshman midfielder Najma Homidi scored a dramatic equalizer, and junior forward Jodie Taylor later won it in overtime to lead the Oregon State women’s soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 non-conference victory over Portland State on Sunday at Lorenz Field.

For the second time in three games, a goal in the final minutes of regulation helped OSU (7-2-2) escape defeat. Back on Sept. 22nd, freshman forward Jessica Velazquez scored a game-tying goal in the 89th minute and the Beavers tied Long Island, 1-1.

With the clock winding down today, senior defender Lauren Wippel sent in a cross from the right side. It went over a crowd in the middle of the box to the far post, where Homidi was waiting. Homidi headed it back across the goal and into the right-hand corner to even the score with 87:28 on the clock. It was her second goal of the season.

“I was trying to create for my teammates and I got lucky because Lauren Wippel played a perfect ball that was hard for me to screw up,” Homidi said.

Then, in overtime, the Beavers missed on a few quality chances early, but Taylor put one away at 99:29. It was the 14th game-winning goal of her career, as she broke a first-place tie and took sole possession of the school’s all-time record. It was also the 31st goal of her career, moving her into a tie for second place all-time at OSU.

On the game-winning goal, the Beavers used a succession of quick passes to move the ball up the middle of the field, as freshman midfielder Melissa Peck passed upfield to junior midfielder Jetta Sadusky, who sent a through ball up the middle. Taylor raced past the defense and had only the goalkeeper to beat for her team-high sixth goal of the season.

The Beavers outshot the Vikings 16-3, but the statistical domination almost didn’t matter. Portland State (0-10-1) scored just its second goal of the season in the 54th minute to take the lead. An OSU handball gave the Vikings a direct free kick at the top of the box, 20 yards away. Juli Edwards stepped up and drilled a hard shot over the defensive wall and into the right side of the net for the lead.

It almost became 2-0 in the 66th minute. PSU’s Marianna Palermo got free on a breakaway up the left-hand side. The OSU defense recovered before Palmero got a shot off, but a deflection off a Beaver clearance attempt went inches wide left of OSU’s net.

The Beavers had many more chances, but weren’t always sharp against the Vikings’ offside trap. Long balls or through passes either went too far or OSU players were whistled for being offsides. The Beavers also had a couple of 1-on-1 opportunities against the goalkeeper that went awry.

“This is always a very difficult game for us,” OSU Coach Steve Fennah said. “Portland State always does very well against us and I give them credit for that. I thought we were flat and we couldn’t afford to do that because they battle and scrap. You can’t allow yourself not to be ready to play. Credit to the team because after we put ourselves in a hole, because then we started doing the things that we needed to be doing from the beginning of the game.”

Portland State Coach Tim Bennett was not allowed on his team’s bench Sunday after he received a red card in Friday night’s game against Oregon.

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