Rampant Geoducks Walk All Over the Beacons
After being held scoreless in their last three matches, the Evergreen Men's soccer team was keen to get on the score sheet in their last match of the season.
Before the match was under way, there was time to honor the four Evergreen seniors in their final home game of their Evergreen career. Seniors #00 Christian Pettit, #17 Corey Johnson, #22 Joe O' Brien, and #19 Brandon Schaefer all started for the Geoducks in their final match of their careers.
The last time Evergreen and Northwest Christian faced each other, the match ended in a 1-1 draw in Eugene, Oregon.
In the opening minutes, both teams were focused on getting into some sort of rhythm before going forward. This was tricky to achieve, with players from both sides falling and, in the process, losing possession of the ball.
Evergreen found a break, through, in the 7th minute when #22 Joe O' Brien headed the ball into the path of onrushing #17 Corey Johnson, who beat the defence and had a one-on-one with the Beacons' #0 Erik Carrazco. Johnson wasted no time in coolly slotting the ball between the legs of the keeper to give the Geoducks an early lead.
Evergreen's lead did not last long. Two minutes later, the Deacons were level, thanks to a free kick delivered in by #5 Travis Brown with #23 Peter VanderBogart on the other end to head past #00 Pettit.
Surrendering their early lead so quickly infuriated the Geoducks, who went forward intending to score as many goals as they could. With each shot, they got closer and closer to retaking the lead, but they were unable to either have an offside call or miss over, left or right of the goal.
In the 20th minute, Evergreen was awarded a corner kick, and up stepped #12 Kevin Flavin, who floated the ball into the box. The cross looked like it would miss everyone, but #22 O' Brien was in position to head his first goal of the season and put Evergreen back into the lead.
In the final 25 minutes of the first half, Evergreen almost doubled or tripled their lead, but were unable to find the back of the net.
With the first half winding down, Evergreen found themselves with another corner kick. #5 Ramon Ramos swung in the cross that was properly dealt with by the Beacons' defense. They were forced to pay as #18 Brandon Wood pounced on the loose ball and blasted it in from close range to double their lead.
At halftime, Evergreen was in cruise control, and it did not look like they were stopping. Evergreen continued to coast in the second half.
Six minutes after the restart, Evergreen found the back of the net for the fourth time. #22 O'Brien was able to pick out #12 Flavin, who got behind the Beacons' back line, and it looked like the Beacons' goalkeeper would get the ball, first but Flavin applied the faint touch to get around the goalkeeper and nonchalantly tapped the ball into the open net.
When the Beacons tried to go forward, they were easily dealt with by a tenacious Evergreen defense and midfield that looked determined not conceded another goal.
And when the Beacons' attacks fell through, Evergreen countered and went forward with such ease that they looked like they would score every time.
However, the four-goal lead became five when #21 Peter Durland crossed the ball to the onrushing #20 Carl Determeyer, who took a few touches to set himself and rifle the ball in the top right corner to add more misery to the Beacons' day.
The match ended with a score of 5-1. What a send-off for the seniors with #22 O'Brien picking up a goal and two assists, #17 Johnson scoring, #19 Schaefer helping anchor a solid back line, and #00 Pettit making four saves. Evergreen never looked like they would lose this match. After surrendering the lead in the first half they turned on the style and made the Beacons pay dearly. It was a terrific way to end a season that saw a lot of downs. When the ups arrived, they were sensational to watch.