EUGENE, Ore. – An early NCU goal was disallowed and the Beacons were never able to recover, falling to Oregon Tech on Saturday 2-1 in the season finale for both schools.
 
15 minutes into the contest, senior Josh Bramlett had a 20-yard bomb which sailed past a diving OIT keeper and into the net. At the same time, a defender had collided with Bramlett and a whistle blew for a foul. After conferring with his lineman, it was determined by the referee that because the whistle had been blown, the play was dead and the goal would not be counted.  
 
A frustrated visiting team tried to overcome their disappointment, but less than four minutes later Oregon Tech would get on the board. A pass across the box from Luis Valdez led Casey Oltman to punch in the go-ahead score from 15-yards out.
 
The Owls added their second goal early in the second half when Valdez scored to make it 2-0.
 
NCU dominated the rest of the half, out-shooting Oregon Tech 14-6 in the period, but were only able to come up with one score. In the 66th minute a Zeph Hollins corner kick was deflected by Steve Jusko towards Brandon Lotts (pictured) who fired home his first goal of the season.
 
The Beacons finished with a 19-14 advantage in shots, though OIT won the shot-on-goal battle, 7-6. Bren Bletscher closed out his season with five saves in goal for NCU.
 
Closing out his fifth season at the helm of the Beacons, head coach Brett Bentley said, "This was a disappointing result tonight. We have a great group of seniors who deserved more from today's game and it is sad and frustrating as a coach when the boys play well enough to win but come up against both poor officiating as well as a good home team.
 
"For us to score the first goal of the game then have the referee blow his whistle for a foul was an egregious mistake on his part and his apology to us and our seniors does us no good in a game decided by one goal. These seniors did an amazing job over the course of their careers and they are leaving us in a better place than when they arrived. Their shoes will be difficult to fill."
 
NCU ends the season with a 4-12-2 record including a 3-10-1 clip in conference play. It was the highest win total for the Beacons since 2010. Oregon Tech, who recently surrendered a number of games to forfeiture, end the year with their first win, going 1-17 overall and 1-13 in conference.