By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Anabel Ohsman (So., ATT, Shohomish, WA/Glacier Peak HS) and Miranda Piros (Fr., MID, Newberg, OR/Newberg HS) each scored five goals for Willamette University, as the Bearcats outscored Whitworth University, 13-9, on Saturday, April 6, in a Northwest Conference battle of first-year teams. The Bearcats built a 3-0 lead and never trailed, although the Pirates pulled within 4-3 just over midway through the first half. Willamette held an 8-5 edge at halftime and tallied the first four goals of the second half.
Laura Kelly (Fr., Mountain View, CA/Mountain View HS), Bridget Blaney (Jr., DEF, Buffalo, WY/Buffalo HS), and Alayna Newland (So., ATT, Everett, WA/Archbishop Murphy HS) each scored one goal for Willamette, which improved to 4-6 overall, 2-3 in the NWC. Whitworth fell to 0-8 on the season, 0-5 in the NWC.
"We are happy with the outcome, but we did not play our best game," Willamette Head Coach Sarah Lautenbach said. "Our expectations are to execute in games the same way we do in practice, and we struggled to do that today. Whitworth came ready to play and fought hard all over the field. We saved ourselves by coming up with some key draws along with a few big saves by Kara Phillips. We will look to improve on what we learned from today."
Ohsman registered her fifth hat trick of the season (3 goals in a game) on her way to scoring four times in the first half. Piros earned her fourth hat trick, while scoring four of her goals in the second half. Ohsman is Willamette's top scorer with 32 goals and five assists for 37 total points. She has scored a goal in nine of 10 games. Piros is second on the roster with 24 goals and three assists for 27 points.
It took only 42 seconds for Ohsman to earn the game's first draw control and then score a goal for the Bearcats on a free position shot. Kelly tacked on an extra-man goal at 26:44, just under a minute into a penalty committed by Shay Clark of Whitworth. Blaney scored for the first time this season on a free position shot at 25:28.
Trinity Frank of Whitworth broke the ice for the Pirates with a goal at 22:34. A bit later, Whitworth cut Willamette's lead to 4-3 when Liah Gingerich scored on a free position shot at the 14:00 mark.
Ohsman was involved in the next three goals, as the Bearcats grabbed a 7-3 advantage. Ohsman started the trio of scores by hitting the next at 13:15, then she assisted on a goal by Newland at 12:32. Six minutes passed without either team scoring, before Ohmsan earned her third goal of the half at 6:21 on an assist from Newland.
Frank produced a goal for the Pirates just 29 seconds later at 5:52. Although Ohsman scored next at 4:50 to give Willamette an 8-4 lead, the Pirates were able to cut the margin to 8-5 on a goal by Gingerich with 2:33 left in the half.
Clark picked up her second yellow card with 27:10 left in the game and could not play the rest of the way due to the second card. Piros scored the first goal of the second half with just four seconds remaining on the ensuing two-minute penalty. The extra-man goal gave Willamette a 9-5 advantage, and started a 4-0 run that included three goals by Piros and one by Ohsman. The Bearcats led 12-5 with 16:52 to go.
Whitworth threatened to rally by recording four unanswered goals. Hannah Meador completed the run with a score at the 8:19 mark to pull Whitworth within 12-9. Piros scored the game's last goal for Willamette at 6:58.
The game featured 10 free position goals. Willamette converted 6 of 14 attempts, while the Pirates were 4 of 9. Willamette gained a 28-24 margin in total shots, including a 21-18 edge in shots on goal. Whitworth achieved a 28-18 lead in ground balls, but the Bearcats won 15 of 24 draw controls, including five each by Ohsman and Piros.
Emma Canchola (Fr., DEF, Oregon City OR/Oregon City HS) of Willamette and Frnak of Whitworth topped all players with six ground ball each. Blaney was credited with five ground balls for the Bearcats, and goalkeeper Laura Wells registered five ground ball for the Pirates.
Willamette goalie Kara Phillips (Sr., GK, Kirkland, WA/Lake Washington HS) made nine saves and improved to 4-6 with the win. Wells finished with eight saves for Whitworth.
The Bearcats will take on Whitman College in another NWC match-up on Sunday, April 7 in Walla Walla, Washington. Game time is slated for 1 p.m. (PDT).
Big Moment of the Game for Willamette
Miranda Piros scored a man-up goal on a free position shot for the first goal
of the second half, giving Willamette a 9-5 lead with 25:14 remaining and just
four seconds left in the man-up situation. The goal started a 4-0 run that gave
the Bearcats a 12-5 advantage. Piros tallied five goals during the game, including
four of Willamette's five goals in the second half.