OSU Tops St. Mary's, 4-2
Beavers extend win streak to school-record seven games.
Oct. 6, 2002
Box Score
CORVALLIS, Ore. - -
The Oregon State men's soccer team extended its win streak to a school-record seven games in a row with a decisive 4-2 win over St. Mary's (Calif.) on Sunday afternoon at Lorenz Field.
The win sets up OSU for its Pacific-10 Conference opener Friday, Oct. 11 at California, and added to the best start in school history, giving the Beavers a 9-1-0 mark.
After grinding through the first 24 minutes, OSU exploded in the 25th minute with two goals in 49 seconds for a 2-0 lead.
Alan Gordon ignited the attack when he took a through pass from Aaron McHardy and went one-on-one with St. Mary's keeper Aaron Valdez. Gordon calmly put a shot into the right corner from the top of the box for his ninth goal of the year and a 1-0 advantage at the 24:10 mark.
Joe Zaher made it 2-0 at 24:59 when Gordon flicked a pass across the goal mouth to the far post, where Zaher controlled it and tapped it in from point-blank range.
The Beavers scored next on a set piece in the 39th minute. Ross Duncan sent an indirect kick toward the far post from 30 yards, where it was tapped across the goal mouth by Josh Boys to Chad Bartlome, who knocked in his third goal of the season and gave the Beavers a 3-0 halftime lead.
"We're 9-1, so the guys are doing something right," OSU coach Dana Taylor said. "However, our play today was not up to the standard that it needs to be heading into Pac-10 play. We were sloppy offensively and defensively in the first 20 minutes, but once we scored that first goal, our play picked up and we took the momentum."
A Matthew Walker goal in the 55th minute brought the Gaels (2-7-3) within 3-1 after Adam Zielske's shot was blocked by OSU keeper Peter Billmeyer but rebounded to Walker, who put it in. Billmeyer totaled six saves in the match.
Aaron McHardy tacked on his sixth goal of the year in the 68th minute to make it 4-1, but St. Mary's Patrick Lower put a shot in the back of the net off a pass from Brian Rhodes five minutes later for the final score of 4-2.
"I was pleased with our four goals today," Taylor said. "The offense has been successful all year at finding the back of the net, so they're very confident going into Pac-10s.
"As a team, we need to be more stingy defensively. We were a bit unorganized in the back, but, that said, a lot of guys got valuable playing experience, so I was pleased with that."
McHardy is now tied for fourth on OSU's all-time points list, matching Jason Lensch's 47 career points. In his career, McHardy has 20 goals and seven assists.
Gordon's goal and assist give him 22 points in 10 games this year, placing him in a tie for seventh on OSU's all-time season points list. The junior has nine goals and four assists on the year.
OSU's seven consecutive wins tops the former school standard of six, a streak achieved in 1992 and again in 1994. The longest unbeaten streak is nine games, dating back to the 1990 season and carrying over into 1991.
OREGON STATE 4, ST. MARY'S (CALIF.) 2
St. Mary's 0 2 - 2
Oregon State 3 1 - 4
Scoring:
OSU - Alan Gordon (Aaron McHardy), 24:10
OSU - Joe Zaher (Alan Gordon), 24:59
OSU - Chad Bartlome (Ross Duncan, Josh Boys), 38:21
SMC - Matthew Walker (Adam Zielske), 54:35
OSU - Aaron McHardy (unassisted), 67:01
SMC - Patrick Lower (Brian Rhodes), 72:08
Summary: SHOTS: SMC 13, OSU 19; CORNERS: SMC 0, OSU 8; SAVES: SMC 4, OSU 6; FOULS: SMC 13, OSU 16
Cautions: SMC - Niles Almarinez, 39:48
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