CORVALLIS, Ore. – On a day where eight members of the Oregon State University men’s soccer program were honored before the match against No. 20 Washington, senior Jordan Jones (Pacific Grove, Calif.) became the difference maker as his sixth career brace paved the way for a 4-3 win to close the 2017 season.

“We had to do some makeup work after going down by two,” said head coach Steve Simmons. “Which the guys did. We challenged them at halftime, they came out and went right after it. We knew Washington was going to come right back so I’m glad we got the insurance goal.

“We can’t take anything away from the guys. We wanted to win for the seniors and we did, so I’m happy for the guys since a lot of the seniors were on the mark today.”

The Beavers (7-11-0, 4-6-0 Pac-12) were held scoreless in the first half on a muddy Paul Lorenz Field as the Huskies (12-6-1, 5-4-1 Pac-12) held an early 2-0 lead at intermission.

Handwalla Bwana buried both goals for UW in the stanza, first by converting a penalty kick in the ninth minute before dribbling around OSU’s back line and placing a shot into the back of the net in the 36th minute.

The Beavers came out of the locker rooms firing on all cylinders early after senior Timmy Mueller (Post Falls, Idaho) led a fast break down Washington’s half of the field and found freshman Andre Earthy-Find (Vancouver, British Columbia) on the left edge of the keeper’s box in the 50th minute.

Earthy-Find took the one-timer in stride and fired off a shot that was initially deflected by keeper Saif Kerawala, but the ball kept rolling towards the far post and banked in for Oregon State’s first goal.

OSU kept the pedal to the floor in the 54th minute after a corner from freshman Joe Hafferty (Renton, Wash.) was deflected to the far post and got corralled by senior Jalen Markey (Seattle, Wash.). Markey placed the shot between the legs of Kerawala from seven yards out to even the tilt at 2-2.

Jones took command shortly after, taking a feed from sophomore Loke Strenov (Hørsholm, Denmark) on the right wing and slipping his shot past a diving Kerawala in the 56th minute for a 3-2 Beaver lead.

The Pacific Grove, Calif., native added the insurance goal in the 77th minute after a pass from Washington was intercepted by sophomore transfer Michael Swift (Memphis, Tenn.) in UW’s defending third. The speedster touched a pass to Jones who summarily placed the shot on the left post from 15 yards out for a 4-2 advantage.

Washington had the quick response twenty seconds later after Kyle Coffee headed home a finisher from Justin Fiddes, but the defense went on lockdown in the final 15 minutes to preserve the 4-3 decision. Redshirt-junior Ryan Vincent (Newberg, Ore.) took the win for OSU after making six saves.

Before the game, the eight members who were honored were Jones, Mueller, Vincent, Markey, senior Jaime Miralles (Vinaròs, Spain), senior Sam Tweeton (Fort Collins, Colo.), redshirt-junior CJ Brill (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) and redshirt-junior Matthias Binder (Bad Fishau, Austria). All eight started the game for their last career appearance in the Orange and Black.

For more information on the Oregon State men’s soccer team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the club @BeaverMSoccer on Twitter

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