Beavers Begin Pac-10 Play at # 4 Washington

Oregon State Men’s Soccer Weekly Digest.

Photo: OSU

CORVALLIS - LOOKING AHEAD: The Oregon State men’s soccer team, following a solid set of results in Nebraska, opens the Pacific-10 Conference season with three straight road games.

The first one is this Sunday’s clash with undefeated and fourth-ranked Washington in Seattle.

GAME #9: Sunday at Husky Soccer Stadium in Seattle, Wash.: Oregon State (5-2-1) vs. Washington (7-0-0) at 1:00 PM.

RANKINGS: Washington is ranked #4 by the NSCAA, #6 by Soccer Times, #7 by Soccer America and #13 by College Soccer News.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON: OSU trails in the all-time series with Washington, 6-18-1, but the Beavers have won six of the last eight meetings, including the last three. Last season, OSU won 1-0 at home and 4-1 in Seattle. This year, UW has outscored opponents 21-3 en route to seven straight wins. Junior forward Kevin Forrest is among the national leaders in scoring with nine goals. The Huskies are coming off a pair of shutout wins against Northern Illinois and Marshall.

DANA TAYLOR SAYS: “We battled very well in the Creighton game, and the environment there was an awesome experience for our guys. Against Drake, it was the best we’ve moved the ball all year. It was a very good team effort. I’m looking forward to our trip to Washington. They’re undefeated and highly ranked. It’ll be a great opportunity for our guys to see where our game’s at right now.”

LAST WEEK: OSU had a good weekend in Nebraska at the Creighton Diadora Challenge, tying the host Bluejays 2-2 and defeating Drake 2-0. In front of 2,311 fans, OSU twice came back from one-goal deficits against Creighton (a 2005 NCAA Tournament quarterfinalist). Down 1-0 at halftime, Robbie Findley scored on a penalty kick, and after falling behind 2-1, Bryan Jordan headed in a free kick in the 79th minute. Against Drake, Findley scored two goals in a two-minute, 16-second span in the second half. He headed in a corner kick, then scored on another penalty kick. Findley tied the school record with his 10th career game-winning goal. OSU took second place behind Creighton, as the Bluejays ended with a slightly better goal differential (+3 to +2).

OFFENSIVE NUMBERS: The Beavers have 15 goals in eight games (1.88 per game). OSU has taken far more shots than its opponents, 98-69. Eight different players have already scored a goal.

DEFENSIVE NUMBERS: OSU has surrended nine goals in eight games (for a 1.09 goals-against average). The Beavers have posted three shutouts.

ROBBIE FINDLEY: Senior forward Robbie Findley (Phoenix, Ariz./Shadow Mountain HS) is one of the most dangerous attacking players on the West Coast. He has four goals and two assists this season for a team-high 10 points. He had a goal and an assist against UC Davis, and two goals against Drake. On OSU’s career charts, he is tied for first in game-winning goals (10), tied for third in goals (26), fourth in points (64) and tied for sixth in assists (12). Findley is a three-time All-Pac-10 selection (twice on the first team) and was the 2003 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. He made the NSCAA All-West Region first team in 2005 and the third team in 2004. The past two summers, he’s played for the PDL’s Boulder Rapids Reserve. He has dual citizenship with Trinidad & Tobago and took part in an U-23 National Team camp last year.

MORE FORWARDS: Senior Bryan Jordan has three goals this season and 13 in his career. Junior Nick Webb has scored two goals this season, both against Sacramento State. Freshman Justin Woodward scored his first collegiate goal against UC Davis.

MIDFIELDERS: The four midfielders that started the most last year are all back. Senior Lucas Egenwall was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection last season. He has a team-high three assists this year. Junior Brett Gardner also made All-Pac-10 honorable mention last year. He’s also an academic standout, making the Pac-10 All-Academic first team and the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first team last year. Sophomores Ryan Callahan and Collin Foster fared well after being thrown into the fire last year as freshmen. Beyond them, junior Mason Webb has seen a great deal of action in two seasons. Junior Hiroshi Nishito scored in his OSU debut at UNLV.

DEFENDERS: OSU’s coaches believe that the central pairing of junior Alex Christensen and sophomore Daniel Leach may be among the best in the country. Christensen was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention pick as a freshman and was well on his way to an even better sophomore year before he suffered a knee injury and missed the last 12 games of the season. He made a great return, scoring the game-winning goal against UC Riverside in the 2006 season opener. Leach was a Freshman All-American and an All-Pac-10 honorable mention pick, and was one of only two players to start all 20 games. Senior Matt Bowman, junior Brett Gardner and sophomores Josh Cameron and Joey Loreth have been rotating at the outside back positions. Cameron has scored goals at UNLV and vs. UC Davis. Loreth is a member of the Canadian U-20 National Team.

PACKY DEENIHAN: Sophomore Packy Deenihan is the starter for the second straight year. This season, he has a 1.13 goals-against average and has made 22 saves in eight games. He had a 1.29 goals-against average, eighth-best in school history, and posted four shutouts last season.

EXPERIENCE: Eight starters, 17 letterwinners and five redshirts return from last year’s team, which went 9-7-4 overall and finished in third place in the Pac-10 at 5-5. Five true freshmen have joined the team. While it’s an experienced squad, it’s still a young team as 17 of the 27 players are freshmen or sophomores. As many as six freshmen were starting at one time last year.

2006 SCHEDULE: As usual, the Beavers play a very strong schedule, highlighted by a couple of non-conference road games against 2005 NCAA Tournament teams Creighton and Cal State Northridge. The Beavers’ first six matches were against West Region schools. OSU opens Pac-10 play with three straight road games. The always-strong Pac-10 includes three 2005 NCAA Tournament teams (UCLA, San Diego State and California).

HEAD COACH DANA TAYLOR: Eighth-year head coach Dana Taylor has lifted the OSU men’s soccer team to elite status, as the Beavers have made NCAA Tournament appearances in two of the last four years (the first two appearances in school history). His players have earned all-conference honors 36 times, all-region honors 10 times, all-conference academic honors 29 times and Academic All-American honors three times. He was awarded a five-year contract extension in fall 2005.

UP NEXT: OSU is on the road for the third consecutive weekend with conference games at San Diego State (Friday, Sept. 29th) and UCLA (Sunday, Oct. 1st).

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