EUGENE, Ore.  – After dominating play for over 89 minutes, the Northwest Christian University women's soccer team fell victim to a last second goal on Wednesday as Oregon Tech took home a 1-0 victory in a non-conference match at Mike Kelly Field.
 
The Beacons had outshot the Owls 18-1 over the first 89 minutes of the game and OIT didn't take any shots-on-goal until the final 45 seconds. The first, a free-kick from 20-yards, was brilliantly saved by NCU keeper Kristin Fulbright, diving to her right. The ball went all the way to the sideline, setting up the dramatic final play.
 
Ashlei Morgan threw the ball in to Bailey Whitehurst, who made a one-touch pass to Amanda Hisey, standing at the near post. Fulbright came in front to defend but Hisey was able to punch the ball back to the far left of the net for the game-winner.
 
Head Coach Brett Bentley said, "Unfortunately, that is one of those things that make soccer a beautiful game. You can dominate the game for 90 minutes and the other team can still find a way to poke it home. It's a great lesson to us to capitalize on the chances we get."
 
And chances they had. 18 shots were taken by the Beacons, including eight shots-on-goal and another two close chance by Stevie Harrison. Late in the first half she had a blast go off the right post and in the second half she had a ball clang off the crossbar. That second play resulted in two more solid attempts by the Beacons, but each time an OIT defender was there to get the ball away.
 
Bentley said, "We'll take this one on the chin, we'll go back and work harder on our ability to convert our chances. We had plenty of them and I give OIT a lot of credit. They sold out to keep the ball out of the back of the net and they were tough to break down in the defensive third. We kept them around and they were able to find a way to get it done."
 
"As big as the field is, it's a game of inches," said Bentley. "The good thing is the girls know they are going to get another shot at OIT and the girls who played tonight left it all out on the field. It's definitely painful but it's going to give them motivation to make sure it doesn't happen again."
 
Harrison ended the night with five attempts, as did Mishayla Bertelsen (pictured). Janelle Richards took three attempts while Karlie Mast and Maddi Bartholomew each had two in the losing effort.
 
Oregon Tech (3-2) had a huge night from First-Team All-CCC keeper Rebekah Matteri, making eight saves to preserve the shutout.
 
The Beacons (0-2) will have another chance to get into the win column on Tuesday, traveling to Everett, Washington to take on Trinity Lutheran College (0-1), who dropped their season opener to the Owls last week, 8-0.