Washington State Edges Oregon State, 1-0

Washington State (7-4-2, 2-0) got a goal by Caeli Abeyta at the 52:00 mark to earn the win over the Beavers (8-4-2, 1-2).

Phoro: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - The Oregon State and Washington State women’s soccer teams both had stellar defensive efforts, but one play helped the visiting Cougars to a 1-0 Pacific-10 Conference victory on Friday night at Lorenz Field.

“Tonight we are disappointed in the result but not in our performance,” OSU Coach Steve Fennah said. “I thought it was a good game and we played pretty well. We created opportunities to score and their keeper made a couple of outstanding saves on very good strikes on goal. It’s disappointing but it’s the nature of our sport. We put on a good performance tonight against a really good Washington State team but didn’t get a lot to show from it.”

A scoreless first half belonged to the defenses and the goalkeepers. Each team took five shots in the first period, and on each of the three quality scoring chances, the goalkeepers made an excellent stop.

In the 15th minute, OSU junior forward Jodie Taylor got past the defense on the right side and was poised to go in one-on-one against the goalkeeper. But WSU’s Brynn Bemis anticipated the play well and came out about 15 yards and smothered Taylor’s shot.

WSU’s Elysse Van Leer took a long pass up the right in the 27th minute and outraced the OSU defenders toward the goal. Senior goalkeeper Melissa Onstad came out of her goal, and made a great stop to knock away Van Leer’s shot. The ball bounced dangerously in front of the goal, but OSU freshman defender Sophie Clough recovered in time to kick the ball away.

In the 39th minute, OSU freshman Najma Homidi took a strong shot from about 15 yards while going to her left. But Bemis narrowly got a hand on the high, hard shot to tip it over the crossbar.

Washington State started making things happen early in the second half. In the 50th minute, Abeyta had a point-blank shot from about 12 yards away, but hit the right post.

A couple of minutes later, WSU scored its goal. Carly Dobratz took the ball down the left side of the box and to the edge of the endline. She sent in a hard cross right along the line. OSU’s Onstad, caught in a crowd near the left post, knocked the ball down but couldn’t hang onto it, and Abeyta poked it into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.

The Beavers still had a couple of chances the rest of the way, most notably a hard shot from 16 yards away by Homidi that went just a few inches wide right in the 66th minute, and a one-on-one opportunity by freshman forward Emily Henshaw in the 68th minute where WSU’s Bemis again came out to smother a shot.

Bemis made five saves in posting the shutout.

The Beavers next host Washington on Sunday at Lorenz Field at 1 PM.

Goals: Caeli Abeyta (Carly Dobratz), WSU, 52:00.

Shots: OSU 11, WSU 12

Corner Kicks: OSU 4, WSU 2

Fouls: OSU 3, WSU 12

Saves: OSU 2, WSU 5

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