Oregon State Women's Soccer: Early Scores Give Santa Clara 3-1 Win Over Beavers
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Santa Clara is normally a power in West Coast Conference Women's Soccer. They've struggled this season, putting together a 2-2-2 conference record, but they were still clearly the better team Saturday afternoon against Oregon State, beating the Beavers 3-1 and dropping them to 2-8-4 overall, and 1-5 in conference play.
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Santa Clara got on the scoreboard right at the one minute mark, when Kennedy Schoennauer got the ball to Raygen Lewis for an early lead. Their second goal came only a few minutes later, with Mailin getting the score this time. Their final goal of the night came right before the 20 minute mark, with the goal going to Lia Henkelmann.
Oregon State got a few shots on goal in the first, but finally converted one right before the end of the half. Santa Clara goal keeper Ally Harrison had come way too far out of the net to contest a play from Nathalie Lewis, that allowed Lewis to get the ball to Isa Calderon, who had a wide open net for the score.
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The second half was almost all Santa Clara, with Oregon State only taking three shots in the half. The Broncos took 20, Six of them were on goal, but Mya Sanchez managed to save everything she faced in the second, and the Oregon State defense managed to handle the rest. Oregon State's scoring never managed to materialize however, with the only good chance coming in the 88th minute, when Nathalie Lewis forced a save.
The Beavers failed to build momentum after last week's win over San Diego, but they've got another chance at a big win next Wednesday, when Washington State comes to Corvallis. Both teams have struggled to stand out in the WCC this season, and both could use a statement victory.
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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 On SI, 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.