Oregon State Women's Soccer Week 3 Recap: Beavers Lose Three in a Row
It's been a rough week for the Oregon State Women's Soccer team, as the Beavers have lost three times in the past 7 days, dropping the team's record to 1-5 and casting a shadow over the rest of the season.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers came to Corvallis last Thursday to hand the Beavers their first loss of the week. It took the Huskers all of one minute and twenty four seconds to take the lead with a Reese Snowdene goal. 10 minutes later Sarah Weber added another goal for Nebraska, giving them the 2-0 lead they would hold for most of the game.
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It would take the Beavers until the 80th minute to get on the scoreboard. McKenna Martinez fed the ball to Megan Turi, and Turi made a nice juke to get space on the Nebraska defenders before slipping the ball past Nebraska goalkeeper Cece Villa. Oregon State tried to find an equalizer in the final 10 minutes. Oregon State took five shots, with Martinez making three of them, but none of them found the goal, preserving the win for the Huskers.
80' | BANGERS ONLY FOR MEGIN TURI AND THAT DEFICIT IS CUT IN HALF!#GOBEAVS pic.twitter.com/rahDBtBTWb
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) September 6, 2024
The following Sunday the Beavers travelled to Seattle to take on the Redhawks, and while they weren't as quick as Nebraska, it wouldn't take long for Seattle to take the lead. Caroline Penner got the ball past Mya Sanchez in the 18th minute. Seattle dominated possession in the first half, outshooting the Beavers 12 to 6.
It would get worse in the second half. Much worse. In the 60th minute Penner added her second goal of the game, and she would finish the hat trick in the 75th minute. giving Seattle a 3-0 lead. Hallie Bergford added a fourth for Seattle just a couple minutes later.
85' | Never giving up, Aidan Brown gets her first of the year.#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/hXPgZ7VAEo
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) September 8, 2024
Oregon State finally found a goal with less than 5 minutes left in the game, when Aidan Brown finally picked up a deflection off a block, catching Seattle goalie Kassidy Kirgan out of place, but what can you even do at that point? You're still down by three goals with hardly any time left on the clock. That would be the last bit of action in the game.
Finally, after some time to recover from their losses last weekend, the Beavers were back in Corvallis to try to turn things around. Thursday's game against future Pac-6 rival Fresno State went better than the previous two, but the Beavers still failed to seal the win.
After a tough first half where Fresno State slightly outshot the Beavers, the Bulldogs finally broke the scoreless game in the second half, when a concerted offensive press finally allowed Ciara Wilson to set up Kaelyn Miller right in front of the goal.
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Oregon State seemed to wilt after that, managing only two shots in the second half. The Beavers made one last push toward the end of the game, with Carly Carraher forcing a save from Ashton Conley at 89:58, but Conley's play sealed the win for the Bulldogs.
So what's next for the Beavers? It's been a tough stretch of games, and Oregon State is only a couple weeks away from the start of the WCC portion of the schedule. They'll be back in action at Paul Lorenz Field on Sunday, taking on a South Dakota State team that's done well this season, with a 5-2-1 record.
JOHN SEVERS
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.