OLYMPIA, Wash. – Following the first 45 minutes, it looked like the Evergreen Geoducks were going to cruise to victory but the Trinity Lutheran Eagles had other ideas as the two squads played to a 3-3 tie in a non-conference women’s soccer match on Wednesday afternoon on Evergreen Pitch in Olympia, Wash.
The Geoducks (2-3-1) opened up the scoring early as Sophie Krauza (Las Vegas, Nev./Centennial) corralled a corner kicker from Lea Rohan (Las Vegas, Nev./Jackson State University) and put it in an empty net for the 1-0 lead just 10:48 into the contest. Less than five minutes later, Evergreen made it 2-0 over Trinity Lutheran (3-7-2) when Rayna Murphy (Longview, Wash./Mark Morris) dripped around TLC keeper Kaylin Wilson and fired it in for the score.
Evergreen made it 3-0 in the 42nd minute when Katie Mendoza (Burien, Wash./Highline HS) fired the ball in from 5 yards out as it looked like the Geoducks would cruise to victory. Evergreen held a 10-1 advantage in shots after the first 45, including a 6-1 advantage in shots-on-goal.
The second half would look like a completely different game as Trinity Lutheran only needed about 10 minutes to tie things up, beginning with a successful penalty kick by Kayla Kliphardt in the 56th minute. TLC got within one goal in the 61st minute as Briann Oostina dribbled around Evergreen keeper Lauren Davidson (Seattle, Wash./North Seattle CC) and put the ball in the open net. Just about five minutes late, Oostinga scored again, this time on a free kick from about 40 yards out that hit the bottom of the crossbar and just skirted past the goal line.
The two teams would battle for the remainder of regulation, as well as 20 minutes of overtime, but neither school was able to force the ball into the net as the teams ended up with a hard-fought 3-3 tie. Evergreen still maintained a large advantage in shots, unleashing 26 attempts against just eight for Trinity Lutheran. Wilson was strong in net for the Eagles, making 11 saves on the afternoon, including five in the second half alone.
The Geoducks will open up Cascade Conference play this weekend when they head down to Springfield, Ore. on Saturday to take on Northwest Christian. First kick with the Beacons is set for 4pm.
