Oregon State Women's Soccer Week 1 Recap: Beavers Fall to Montana 3-0, Have No Contest Against Iowa
Oregon State Women's Soccer had a rough start to the season last week, as the Beavers failed to score in either of the games they played in Missoula's Rumble in the Rockies tournament. The Beavers were down 2-0 against Iowa in a game ruled a no contest, before falling 3-0 to the hosting Montana Grizzlies.
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In their game against Iowa last Thursday, it did not take long for the Hawkeyes to get on the scoreboard. In the 11th minute OSU goalkeeper Mya Sanchez made a save on a Meike Ingles shot, but the save popped up and Iowa's Berit Parten was right there to pick up the rebound and score for the Hawkeyes.
Less than a minute later Iowa's Sofia Bush intercepted an Oregon State pass and fed the ball to Parten, who then scored on the fast break. With the game just underway, the Hawkeyes were now up 2-0.
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Oregon State managed to settle things down after that, and the defense did not give the Hawkeyes any more scoring opportunities. Oregon State didn't manage much offense of their own, with their only shot on goal coming from Megan Turi in the 17th minute, but it looked like the Beavers had something they could build on in the second half.
Sadly, that never came to pass. During the half time break, lightning began to strike at South Campus Stadium, and as the delay stretched into multiple hours, eventually it was decided to rule the game a non contest.
Oregon State was back in action on Sunday, taking on the hosting Montana Grizzlies. Once again, the Beavers got off to a terrible start. Montana scored in the third minute, when Maddie Ditta picked up a deflection off of a Mya Sanchez save and found the bottom right corner of the goal.
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The Grizzlies added one more midway through the first half courtesy of Bella O'Brien. Montana had controlled the time of possession for most of the first half, but towards the end of the period the Beavers began to find more opportunities, with Cassi James finally getting Oregon State their first shot on goal in the 43rd minute, forcing a leaping save from Ashlyn Dvorak.
The second half was much the same. Montana set the pace of the game, but the Beavers got a few decent chances. The Grizzlies put the game away in the 78th minute. Mya Sanchez deflected a Bella O'Brien shot, but Riley O'Brien headed the ball and scored the final goal of the day giving the Grizzlies a 3-0 win.
Riley O'Brien makes it 3-0 Grizzlies with the assist from Bella O'Brien off the crossbar here in the second half! pic.twitter.com/KENhnP9qPP
— Montana Griz Soccer 🐻⚽️ (@MontanaGrizSOC) August 18, 2024
The worst news for Oregon State came with minutes left in the game, when McKenna Martinez went down with an injury. There's no word yet on if she'll miss any games, but that would be a huge loss for the Beavers.
This weekend the Beavers have an exhibition game against Trinity Wesleyan. There next game that counts will be next Wednesday, when they'll be on the road to take on Idaho State in Pocatello. The Bengals have had a solid start to their season, tying Colorado State 0-0 and beating Denver 1-0. It should be an interesting matchup for Oregon State.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for Sports Illustrated, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.