OLYMPIA, Wash. – Bushnell brushed off an early 1-0 deficit on Saturday afternoon and rolled to another big Cascade Conference win, topping Evergreen State for their second 4-1 victory of the weekend.
The Beacons (9-0-4, 5-0-2 CCC) outshot the Geoducks (4-4-2, 2-4-1) 14-7. After giving up a penalty kick in the third minute, Bushnell allowed just two shots-on-goal over the final 87, while scoring two goals of their own in each half.
"We struggled a little at the beginning," said Head Coach
Joao Ehlers, "but we controlled the second half. It was a difficult weekend and I am proud of the guys mentality."
The Beacons fouled a player in the box at the 2:17 mark, giving Kolby Juarez the opportunity to give ESC the lead, which he took advantage of. Bushnell, however, responded just 85 seconds later as Evergreen was also called for a foul up top.
Sammy Bayer buried his penalty kick to tie the game at 1-1 less than four minutes into the contest.
Bushnell added what would become the game-winning goal in the 43
rd minute with
Severin Larsen (pictured) drilling a free-kick from 30 yards out to give Bushnell a 2-1 lead going into the intermission. Larsen becomes the 13
th different Beacon to score a goal during their season-long undefeated streak.
"We didn't play so well in the first half," said Larsen, "but once the second half started we turned it around and started to play more as a team and it showed with our dominance controlling the ball."
The second half was all Beacons, starting in the 50
th minute as
Joao Maia took a pass from
Felipe Benavides and scored from just inside the 18 to make it 3-1.
Bushnell wrapped up the scoring in the 72
nd minute with the usual suspects getting into the action.
Joan Remo Morales fired in a shot from 12-yards away after a pass from
Brady Housley.
Remo Morales earns his team-leading sixth goal of the season and now ranks second in the CCC. He is also third in conference for total points with 15. For Housley, his school-record tying eighth assist of the season leads the conference and he also leads the CCC for total points with 18.
UP NEXT: The Beacons, who are currently in second place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, will play their fifth consecutive road game next Friday night, traveling to Salem to take on Corban University (5-3-2, 2-3-2) at 7:00 pm
