Oregon State and Portland Battle to 0-0 Draw in Sunday Night Struggle

Oregon State Men's Soccer extended their winless streak to three Sunday night, drawing the Portland Pilots 0-0 and a tough defensive contest. The tie puts the Beavers record at 2-1-3 for the season.

The Pilots started the game out aggressively, Diego Rossa forced John Nicolson's first save of the game in the seventh minute, and the Portland pressure would not let up for much of the first half. Three corner kicks in quick succession at the 14 minute mark gave them several chances, but the Portland defense managed to block every shot sent their way.

Gonzalo Aranaz Zarzuela got the Beavers their first shot of the night in the 31st minute but it rolled off target. As Oregon State began to find their attacking rhythm, Portland drew back, and the half closed with Max Eisenberg giving the Beavers a chance at a goal, but missing both his shots.

After a string of fouls to start the second half, Portland regained the momentum. The Pilots made John Nicolson work to keep a zero on the scoreboard, with David Agjabe forcing a pair of saves after shots in the 62nd and 65th minute.

Aidan Marquez forced the game's first save from Portland goalkeeper Miguel-Angel Hernandez in the 77th minute, which set the tone for the final stretch of the game. After finding themselves on the back foot much of the night, the Beavers spent much of the final 10 minutes on the attack.

Mark Weider forced another save from Hernandez in the 85th minute, then another shot from Aidan Marquez went wide. After a goal kick Portland took the ball back into the Oregon State zone, but the Beavers regained possession to give Marquez one last shot at a goal. His shot went wide, and that was the last bit of action in the game.

It was another solid game from John Nicolson, who reigstered four saves, and while he didn't show up much on the stat sheet, Sava Catlett made himself a big problem for Portland's attack, getting himself in the way of some of their big early plays.

Aidan Marquez led the Beavers in shots with three, one of them on goal. Max Eisenberg had two shots on the night, but only played for 61 minutes after exiting fairly early in the second half. Eisenberg has been has been a key player in the Beavers' offense this season, so hopefully there's not an injury issue there.

There's one last week of non-conference play before the new look Pac-12 kicks off. Oregon State will finish up their non-conference schedule with a trip to UC Santa Barbara next Sunday, September 20th, before returning to Corvallis for only their second home game of the season on Wednesday, September 23rd, when they'll take on Seattle.

Add us as a preferred source on Google