EUGENE, Ore. – The Evergreen State College Geoducks scored early in the second half on Wednesday night to secure a 1-0 victory over Northwest Christian University, clinching the fourth and final playoff spot for the CCC postseason tournament. Junior Angel Guerra made five saves to pick up the shutout victory for ESC.
 
NCU came into the night with slim playoff hopes, needing to win their final three games along with plenty of help from teams above them losing. The perfect scenario did not play out, and the Beacons were eliminated.
 
The Beacons held the shot advantage in the contest, 16-14, but Evergreen won the shots-on-goal battle by an 8-5 clip. The winning goal came in the 52nd minute. Nate Boatright took a free kick from 40 yards out and lofted the ball into the box. Ethan Sumlin was able to peel away from his defender and was isolated against NCU keeper John Castro.
 
With the 50-50 ball in the air, Castro committed, but as his hands reached the ball so did Sumlin's head which knocked in the shot into the middle of the net.
 
Head coach Brett Bentley said, "My heart breaks for my boys tonight. We knew coming in that we had to get a result to stay alive but unfortunately tonight was a snapshot of our season as a whole. At this level when you make mistakes you lose games. One small mistake at the worst time has unfortunately been the story of our season and was the case tonight. Now it is on us to regroup and finish the season strong and I'm confident these young men, my players and coaches, have it in them to get it done."

Castro finished the night with seven saves for the Beacons, who drop to 4-10-2 on the season and 3-8-1 in the CCC. Evergreen avenged a 1-0 loss at home to the Beacons two weeks ago, improving to 7-7-1, 7-4-1 CCC. Trailing by five points with two games remaining, the Geoducks are still alive in the race for a CCC championship.

 
NCU will return to action on Saturday, playing host to Northwest University at 5 p.m. The Beacons will honor seniors Max Torres, Josh Bramlett, Ryan Herriage, Chase Pearson, Shaq Poston, and Vladyslav Boloban in a pre-game ceremony.
 
Evergreen will be in Salem on Saturday taking on fellow playoff qualifier Corban at 1 p.m.