St. Mary's men fall to Portland

Moraga, CA  – The Saint Mary’s men’s soccer team lost a hard fought battle against Portland by a 1-0 score in overtime on Friday night.  The winning goal came in the 97th minute as Portland took advantage of a poor SMC goal kick to send in the game-winning goal.

For the first time this season, the Gaels have dropped consecutive games.  Saint Mary’s is now 6-5-1, 2-3-0 West Coast Conference, while Portland improves to 6-2-4, 3-1-1 WCC.

“I feel for our guys,” said head coach Adam Cooper.  “Unlike how we played last week against Santa Clara, I felt that we played a great game today.  This is the first time I’ve experienced losing a game on a goal kick.”

The first half saw the Gaels attempt four shots and three corner kicks while the Pilots took seven shots and had two corner kicks.

After a scoreless first-half, the teams played even in the second-half as SMC took eight shots compared to seven by Portland.

In overtime, Justin Grider took a shot from the top of the box and missed high in the 93rd minute.  Portland took a corner at 95:13 and Doug Herrick saved a header attempt at the 95:35 mark.

A poor goal kick was directed right at Portland’s Ben Hemphill who was on SMC’s side of the field.  Hemphill then took the shot from 18 yards low inside the right post.

Portland finished the night with the advantage in shots by a 16-13 edge.  Both squads took six corner kicks and fouls resulted in 13 for Portland and 11 for SMC.

Dylan Leslie took three shots, two on goal to pace the Gaels.  Justin Grider attempted three shots, including the overtime shot which sailed high.  Jose Cabeza, Justin Howard and Erik Rivas all took two shots and one on goal apiece.

Saint Mary’s will try and get back on track on Sunday when the Gaels travel to Spokane, WA to take on Gonzaga.  Kick-off is set for 2:00 p.m.

Saint Mary's (CA) (6-5-1 {2-3-0 WCC}) vs.
Portland (6-2-4 {3-1-1 WCC})
Date: Oct 15, 2010 Attendance: 1420
Weather: Sunny, low 60s

Goals by period       1      2      OT      Total
Saint Mary's (CA)      0      0      0      0
Portland              0      0      1      1

SCORING SUMMARY
Goal      Time      Team      Goal Scorer      Assists      Description
1.      96:43      POR       HEMPHILL, Ben (2)      (unassisted)      failed clearence one on one lower right corner 18 yeards

CAUTIONS AND EJECTIONS
SMC       #2      NEWQUIST, Trevor       Yellow card      41:31
POR       #15      EVANS, Steven       Yellow card      82:38
SMC       #9      CABEZA, Jose       Yellow card      89:44