CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State women's soccer team completed a perfect weekend and its nonconference schedule on Sunday with a 2-1 overtime win over San Diego at Paul Lorenz Field.
 
Junior Nikki Farris scored the golden goal at 97:07 as the Beavers (5-2-2) overcame a 1-0 deficit with two goals in the final 22 minutes. They improved to 2-1-2 in overtime games; their other OT win came at Michigan State on Sept. 9.
 
Senior Helene Haavik – who, coincidentally, scored the golden goal in the victory over the Spartans – started the decisive play with crossing pass from the left side to junior Natalie Higgins. She threaded a back-heel pass to Faris, who drilled a left-footed shot just inside the right post for her third goal of the season.
 
"I got a great ball from Natalie, then I just turned and took a quick shot," Faris said in describing the game-winner. "I had a good look at it; I turned and tried to get [the shot] low into the corner and I managed to do that. I've done a lot of left-footed work since I moved to the left side," and it paid off on Sunday.
 
Faris and Higgins also figured in OSU's first goal, in reverse order, which tied the game 1-1 at 75:00. Faris took the ball to the timeline and then cross it to the oncoming Higgins, who drove a left-footed shot past USD keeper Amber Michel for her fourth goal of the season and her second tally of the weekend.
 
USD had gone ahead 1-0 at 55:55, and OSU had an apparent tying goal negated by an offside several minutes later. But the Beavers kept grinding and were eventually rewarded with the tying and winning goals.
 
"That's a big thing we've worked on" in the past three seasons, Faris said. "We started out really young my freshman year; now being able to finish off those games instead of losing our ground," shows the progress made since that winless 2014 campaign.
 
The Beavers also answered a challenge from coach Linus Rhode, issued after a 2-1 win over Portland on Friday night, to win twice in a single weekend. The Beavers were 0-for-3 in such opportunities prior to Sunday.
 
"Coming off our win over Michigan State, we didn't have a good Sunday game," in a 2-1, overtime loss at Eastern Michigan. "Our goal this weekend was to come back strong after the Friday game and just continue it on and get a win on Sunday."
 
The Beavers open Pacific-12 Conference play at California at 3 p.m., Thursday and will be televised by Pac-12 Networks. Their Pac-12 home opener is set for Sept. 29 vs. UCLA.
 
For more information on the Oregon State women's soccer team, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @BeaverWSoccer or its Facebook page at BeaverWSoccer
 
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