Beavers Shutout Bulldogs In Home Opener
The Oregon State women’s soccer team captured its home opener and stretched its winning streak to two games in a row on Friday with a 3-0 victory over Fresno State before a crowd of 514 at Lorenz Field.
The Beavers (2-0-0) stunned the Bulldogs (0-3-0) with a goal by freshman Maria Roggow at 1:29 and they added two more markers to grab an insurmountable 3-0 halftime lead. OSU stayed formidable defensively and sophomore goalie Bella Geist had three saves to register her fourth career shutout.
A freshman from Kelso, Wash., Roggow took a pass from sophomore Nikki Farris and buried a shot into the lower-left corner for her first career goal, giving the Beavers such much-needed early momentum.
“It was really nice to have that happen so soon,” OSU coach Linus Rhode said. “It changed the whole flow of the game. That’s a situation we haven’t been in a while, so it was nice.”
An own goal made it 2-0 at 17:22 and sophomore Emma Jones concluded the onslaught at 35:18 after an assist from junior Sabrina Santarossa.
“We kept going, which was what we wanted to do,” Rhode added. “Overall it was a solid performance.”
Offensively challenged throughout a winless 2014 campaign, the Beavers outshot Fresno State 15-8 and have now scored five goals in two games, one more than they tallied in 20 games last season.
“We worked on our offense a lot in the off-season,” Rhode said. “We have a little more experience. The players have been through it; they’re used to the pace, and are more confident around the goal.
“Everything is just starting to come together.”
Geist’s three previous shutouts came last year in scoreless draws. Her three saves raised her career total to 139; she can move into seventh-place all-time in less than two seasons with four more stops.
“Defensively we are solid,” he said. “They are working well, that block of eight with Bella behind them is really solid.”
The Beavers shoot for their third straight victory at 2:30 p.m. Sunday against the University of San Francisco. Their most recent three-game winning streak was Oct. 13-25, 2013, when they topped Arizona State, Washington State and Cal in successive Pacific-12 Conference games.
“It’s still early and there are some things we need to work on, which we will,” Rhode said. “But I’m just really happy for the girls and I know they are happy.”
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