Oregon State Women's Soccer Weekly Recap: Beavers Take Down Gonzaga 4-2 in First West Coast Conference Game
In their first game of West Coast Conference play the Oregon State Women's Soccer team capitalized on several mistakes from the Gonzaga Bulldogs to pick up a 4-2 win. the victory moves the Beavers to 3-6 on the season, and 1-0 in conference play.
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Gonzaga took an early lead over the Beavers in the 19th minute, with a goal from Amelia Severn. While the Bulldogs outshot the Beavers 13 to 5 in the first half, Oregon State weathered the storm. Mya Sanchez made three saves in the half to keep the Gonzaga lead at 1, and in the 32nd minute OSU tied things. up.
That was when Claire Jones took a corner kick for Oregon State, and delivered the ball perfectly to Hayden Wilson. Wilson instantly put the ball into the upper right corner of the net before the Gonzaga defense could adjust to tie the game. Just 7 minutes later, Gonzaga would break the tie, but not in the way they would hope.
32' | Level at Lorenz 👏
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) September 28, 2024
Hayden Wilson finds the back of the net for the second time this season to tie this one up!#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/EGtQsUp72p
In the 40th minute, as Oregon State was bringing the ball up field, the Beavers turned the ball over. Gonzaga passed the ball back to goalkeeper Lauren Towne for a goal kick, but a miscommunication left Towne out of place, and the ball went right past her and into the Gonzaga goal foir a 2-1 Beavers lead.
41' | Take 'em however you can get 'em 🤷♀️
— Oregon State Women's Soccer (@BeaverWSoccer) September 28, 2024
A mistake at the back by Gonzaga and we take a one-goal advantage!#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/E6PbmY1HnA
The second half started just as bad for the Bulldogs. In fact, exactly as bad. In the 49th minute Gonzaga suffered a second own goal, this time when Towne mishandled a save on an in bound corner kick, putting the Beavers up 3-1.
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Oregon State picked up their fourth goal of the game, and the second they were responsible for, in the 52nd minute, with a Katie Godden penalty kick, while the Bulldogs struggled to get back in the game. They picked up a goal in the 68th minute, thanks to Paige Alexander, but struggled to find a consistent rhythm while the Beavers held steady.
Oregon State will be back in action tonight, when they'll be travelling to California to take on the Pacific Tigers. Pacific has struggled so far this season, losing their first conference game 2-0 to LMU and putting together an overall record of 2-8-1.
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.