Oregon State Women's Soccer Weekly Recap: Beavers Lose Ground in WCC Race With Loss and Tie
After a strong start to the conference season, the Oregon State Women's Soccer team have started to struggle against West Coast Conference opponents. Last week the Beavers fell to Loyola Marymount 2-1 for their loss against a WCC opponent, on this past Wednesday Oregon State managed to pull off a 1-1 tie against the 20th ranked Pepperdine Waves, The Beavers now sit at 6-7-2 overall, and 4-1-2 in conference play headed into their final stretch of games.
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In last Wednesday's game against the Lions, LMU jumped out to an early lead with a goal in the eighth minute courtesy of Jennessa Groves. It took until the second half for LMU to find the goal again, but Megan Rucker found the net in the 67th minute for a 2-0 Lions lead.
Oregon State got plenty of chances to get on the board, but it took until the 83rd minute for the Beavers to score. Valerie Tobias picked up a deflected shot and fed the ball to Paola Figueroa, who headed the ball to McKenna Martinez, who planted the ball in the bottom right of the goal.
83' | Exactly what we needed... McKenna Martinez cuts that lead in half!
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) October 24, 2024
Assists to Val Tobias and Paola Figueroa.#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/sDcylB6KpQ
The Beavers got a few other chances to tie the game up, but time was running tight and eventually the clock ran out. The loss left the second place spot in the West Coast Conference standings all tied up, and the Beavers next game wouldn't help matters.
Pepperdine came to Corvallis ranked 20th in the country, and while they controlled possession for much of the game, it was Oregon State who got on the scoreboard first. Carly Carraher and Claire Jones passed the ball back and forth in the 35th minute, before Carraher found an open Valerie Tobias who put the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal.
35' | Scouting report on Val Tobias:
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) October 26, 2024
Really, really good at soccer.
BEAVS LEAD 👏#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/jsuqZ8rsmS
The Waves tied the game in the 63rd minute, with a Tori Waldeck Penalty Kick goal, and the rest of the game was the Beavers fending off an aggressive Pepperdine attack. The Waves had 14 shots in the second half, but Oregon State managed to keep most of them away from goalkeeper Mya Sanchez, who did save two of the shots that came her way.
A 1-1 tie against a very good team is a decent result, but it's a result that leaves Oregon State, Pepperdine and LMU tied for second place in the WCC standings, and when the NCAA Selection Committee comes calling, it's tough to see them picking the Beavers unless they can pick up a quality win before the season closes.
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They have one more opportunity for a quality win, and it'll be tomorrow, with the Beavers welcoming the WCC's top team, the 11th ranked Santa Clara Broncos, to Corvallis. It'll be a tall task for the Beavers to take down a team as lauded as the Broncos, but if they want to keep playing past the next couple weeks they're going to have to do it.
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.