Oregon State
Western Washington (Exhibition)
Oregon State Men's Soccer Routs Western Washington in Exhibition, 4-0
August 22, 2011 | Men's Soccer
Aug. 22, 2011
CORVALLIS, Ore. - In its final tune up before the regular season, the Oregon State men's soccer team scored early and often on Monday evening, using a relentless offensive attack to blank the visiting Western Washington Vikings by a score of 4-0.
The game was never in doubt as Oregon State parlayed three first-half goals into a comfortable win. The team scored on nearly a quarter of its shots (17) and the margin of victory was the largest for a Beavers squad since Sept. 6, 2009, when OSU defeated Cal State Bakersfield by the same score. The offensive output was the largest for the program since it scored five goals in an exhibition victory over Trinity Western in 2009.
"I think we're on our way [to solving last year's offensive struggles]," Oregon State head coach Steve Simmons said. "First it's coaching the guys you have and then recruiting the guys that you think can come in and compliment. You saw the look in the first half with Emery Welshman and Khiry Shelton [because] those guys can really ask a lot of questions of defenses. And then you add in Colin Mitchell and Roberto Farfan and all of a sudden to not put the load on their shoulders - everybody plays a little looser and when you're playing a little looser you're going to create chances."
As was the case in their exhibition opener, Welshman started the scoring in the 19th minute off of a nice feed from Chris Harms, who used his head to settle a corner kick from the near side in front of the junior striker.
Barely over a minute later, with 19:37 on the clock, Mitchell deposited a feed from Farfan into the bottom right of the net to pad Oregon State's lead and give his squad a 2-0 advantage. Shelton continued the offensive onslaught just before the half when he marked his first goal in a Beavers' uniform off of an assist from Welshman.
The team's defense was as stellar as the offense was potent in the first 45 minutes. Redshirt senior goalkeeper Steve Spangler was only forced to make one save in the first half, a beautiful punch that knocked a rocket off the foot of Keith Ferris over the crossbar.
"The guys [on defense] have been, as you saw today, responding really well," Spangler said. "They trust me fully back there."
More Beavers saw action in the second half (the team rotated in 21 players on the night) and Alex Eckerson capped off the scoring in the 69th minute, using a flick of his boot to chip the ball over the head of the keeper as he was falling to the ground.
"I feel like we are really getting together as a team [in advance of the regular season]," Eckerson said. "All of us made an effort to come here two months before the season started so we could all get to know each other, play with each other and mesh together well."
Oregon State wrapped up its preseason schedule winning both of its games by an aggregate score of 6-0. The team opens up its regular season at home on Saturday night when it welcomes Portland to Paul Lorenz Field. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
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