Men’s Soccer Drops Season Opener to Portland, 2-1

Oregon State falls to 11-12-1 all-time in season openers

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State men’s soccer team (0-1-0, 0-0-0 Pac-12) put relentless pressure on Portland all night, but was unable to find the back of the goal more than once, falling to the visiting Pilots (1-0-0, 0-0-0 WCC), 2-1, on Saturday night at Paul Lorenz Field in what was the season opener for both teams.

“You have to give credit to our guys for fighting,” Oregon State head coach Steve Simmons said.  “I think they created a lot of chances.  We outshot them and out-chanced them.  To pull back within one was good.  We had other opportunities … [and] once we settled down we started to play.”

The Beavers’ work up front was evident from the opening whistle and became increasingly important after OSU fell behind, 1-0, when Portland sent home a goal out of the reach of a diving Steve Spangler in the eighth minute.

A Pilots’ goal early in the second half put Oregon State in a 2-0 hole in the 58th minute until the Beavers’ offensive work finally paid off.  A foul on the far side of the field gave Roberto Farfan what was essentially a free corner in the 69th minute.  With a touch of his left boot Farfan lifted the ball to the head of Michael Lamb, who guided it to the foot of Will Seymore at the top of the box.  Seymore settled the pass and fired his shot past the Portland keeper for his first goal at Oregon State.

Desperate for the equalizer, Oregon State continued to control the ball on Portland’s half of the field, but ultimately was unable to capitalize as the final minutes ticked away

“I think we outplayed them,” junior Chris Harms said.  “We made some key mistakes that cost us and you can’t do that in college soccer.  There were too many crucial moments in that game where we didn’t come through … [Portland] put away their opportunities and we didn’t and that was the difference in the game.”

The Beavers outshot Portland 16 to 12 and took eight corners on the night.  The contest was also extremely physical as the two teams combined for 29 fouls.  Oregon State was issued four yellow cards, including one that sent off Seymore in the second half and forced the Beavers to play the final 10 minutes a man down.

The road doesn’t get any easier for OSU as the team travels to the state of North Carolina next weekend for a pair of matchups against top-25 foes.  The Beavers will play the No. 3 UNC Tar Heels on Friday at 4 p.m. PST in Chapel Hill before wrapping up their East Coast swing with a tilt against No. 13 Wake Forest on Sunday at the same time.