Geoduck Men remain second despite setback to Concordia

by Lewis Mikkelson

OLYMPIA, Wash.—No. 18 Concordia Cavaliers made easy work against the Evergreen Geoducks and now have a six point lead on top of the Cascade conference after a 4:1 in Olympia over the weekend.

As the rain poured down, Concordia and Evergreen were toe-to-toe with each other. Each team struggled to link passes together and to stay on their feet. As the first half drew to a close it looked like things would remain tied, but the unrelenting Cavalier pressure broke the resilient Geoduck defense.

Concordia broke the deadlock in 42nd minute after Evergreen’s keeper Mauricio Sanchez fumbled a shot that he first saved which then fell into the path of Jordan Green who put the Cavaliers in the lead before half time. Evergreen were frustrated to see all their hard work in keeping the Cavaliers at bay stall three minutes before the intermission.

When play resumed, Evergreen were left starstruck to see the Cavaliers double their advantage just three minutes into the second half. Concordia’s Gerrit Hamann swung in cross from the right which met up with Sam Carmichael,who wasted no time in firing past Sanchez to put the Portland, Oregon school into a commanding lead.

Evergreen were not done. Three minutes later, they cut the lead to just one. Following a corner kick from Jeff Roland, Jeremy Novack connected with the ball to hammer it past Cavalier ‘keeper Scott Gross. The goal re-energized Evergreen.

Evergreen increased their pressure and created a few chances but were unable to to grab the equalizer. The missed opportunities by the Geoducks came back to haunt them.

In the 61st minute, Concordia  brought their lead back to two when Carmichael forced a save from Sanchez, who pushed the ball back into the on rushing Green who grabbed his second of the afternoon. Evergreen were left devastated. Ten minutes later, another shot was not properly dealt with as Hamann saw his shot hit the cross-bar and bounce into the goal. Concordia’s fourth nailed the coffin shut on any hope for an Evergreen come back.

A match that could have seen Evergreen draw level with league leaders, turned out to be a rather depressing afternoon for this young Evergreen team that just could not find their form when it really mattered. For Concordia, they now sit atop of the Cascade Conference and look like they will not be pushed off.

Cascade Conference Men’s Soccer Standings

Evergreen Geoducks 2:0 Northwest Christian Beacons

OLYMPIA-Wash.–- (October 7) Evergreen faced Northwest Christian in their seventh CCC match looking to improve to 6-1-0 in their conference season.

They could not have asked for a better start.

From the first whistle to the end of the first half the Geoducks put on a master class in passing, pressing and tempo that put the Beacons on the back foot.

However, Evergreen struggled to find the final ball to unlock the Beacons’ defense. Each attack was wasted with a poor cross or the Beacon’s back line would come in at the last second to intervene.

The breakthrough final came when #6, George Bundy, played a diagonal ball that allowed #13, Tyson Folwerto, to get behind the Beacons’ back line setting upp #22 Ethan Sumlin, to finish the scoring move.

After the first goal, Evergreen started to open up the Beacons defense at will and it was only a matter of time before they got their second.

Evergreen doubled their lead in a few minutes when #20, Willie Spurr, played in #21, Mirza Memic, who saw his effort saved. With the ball bouncing around up stepped #26, Jeff Roland, who smashed the ball past the NWC goalkeeper Erick Carrazco to put the Geoducks two goals to the good.

With 25 minutes left in first half the Beacons continued to struggle to break down Evergreen’s organized and compacted 4-4-2.

When played resumed, the Beacons pressed the Geoducks higher up the pitch and won a handful of corner kicks but to no avail.  The Beacons kept pressing high and each time the Geoducks showed their maturity by slowing the tempo down and breaking down the pressure.

As the half continued to count down, the Beacons grew disappointed. This produced a rather physical second half which forced the referee to blow his whistle at almost every challenge. Evergreen’s freshman Ian Hazard-Bill believed that the change in physicality nature was due to, “… the Beacons becaming frustrated and we [Evergreen] being tired.”

Three points for Evergreen, who put on a performance they should be proud of.

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