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SPORTS MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2019 WOMEN Continued from Page 6A season loss last year. On what proved to be the winning goal in the 41st minute, Kiebert placed a corner kick from the right side directly to the left post, where Bassett timed her leap to put in the header for the lead and to break the stalemate. “I just had a feeling,” Bas- sett said. “I said, ‘I’m going to score this.’ Nan hit it over my head the first time. I said, ‘I’m going to start a little bit further back,’ (and) I ended up connecting with the ball.” A second great connection off a combination play led to the second goal that gave EOU some breathing room. Kiebert took a pass from Mackinley Gregus down the left side, saved it from going out of bounds, then found Storm in front of the net for a tap-in goal. “We just did a 1-2, so I played (Gregus), got around the back line, (and) she played me back,” Kiebert said. “Luckily I was able to stop it right before it went out, looked up, saw Kayla sprinting in, and was able to place her a good ball. She was able to get there and slot it right in. I feel like we’ve been working a lot with give and goes and (with) fast play. It’s been paying off.” The team overcame what at times seemed a struggle to get into a groove, espe- cially early in the second half, which Plocher attrib- uted to Carroll’s play. “Honestly, I thought we did a good job of controlling things and moving things in the first half,” he said. “The second half Carroll came out with a little more energy, and it took us a while to find our rhythm again. But we were able to persevere at the end.” Kiebert said the key for EOU to get going offensive- ly is speed. “When we shine and play our best is when we play fast. We play better against better teams when they are (putting pressure) on us,” she said. Kiebert was again the early spark plug for the Mountaineers on Saturday against Providence as she scored the opening goal in the first half, then assisted the first of three second- half goals to give Eastern control of the match. Cailin Koupal hooked up with Kiebert for the 1-0 lead in the 29th minute. Abri Cardenas began a scoring onslaught in the second half of three goals in 12 minutes when she scored off a pass from Kiebert in the 56th minute. Gregus scored unassisted in the 65th and then found Koupal for a goal in the 68th. It wrapped an afternoon where EOU peppered Providence to the tune of 22 shots, 11 of which were on goal. Cydni Cottrell completed a perfect weekend in net for Eastern with nine saves in the two matches — six on Friday and three more on Saturday. EOU (7-0-2 overall, 4-0-1 CCC) visits Oregon Tech Friday. Ronald Bond/Observer file photo The Eastern Oregon women’s cross country team won the Gold Race at the Charles Bowles Invitational Saturday. EOU women win Bowles Invitational Observer staff The Associated Press Justin Herbert threw for 214 yards and a late touch- down to extend his streak of consecutive games with a scoring pass to 33, and No. 13 Oregon overcame an unchar- acteristically slow start in a 17-7 victory over California on Saturday night. Oregon (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) trailed until Cyrus Habibi- Likio’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:38 left in third quarter made it 10-7. Herbert’s streak of TDs ap- peared in jeopardy until his short pass to Jaylon Redd with 7:14 to go in the game. The Ducks, whose only loss came in the opener against Auburn, were held scoreless in the first half by the surprisingly resilient Golden Bears (4-2, 1-2). Junior Devon Modster made his first start for Cal in place of injured quar- terback Chase Garbers. After struggling last week when Garbers got knocked out of Cal’s loss to Arizona State, Modster fared better against Oregon’s defense. Modster threw for 190 yards and a touchdown against the Ducks, who hadn’t given up a TD since the game against the Tigers. Herbert’s streak of games with at least one touchdown pass is the longest in the nation among active play- ers. He was tied for seventh nationally with 14 touch- down passes this season going into the game. Herbert threw his first interception of the season on Oregon’s opening drive. He went into the game on a streak of 174 consecutive passes without a pick. Cal senior safety Ashtyn Davis snagged the inter- ception. Cal’s secondary, dubbed “The Takers,” has amassed 27 career intercep- tions, but just three this season. The Golden Bears went on to score on the drive when Modster con- nected with Chris Brown on a 22-yard touchdown pass. The Ducks got to the Cal 11 at the end of the opening quarter, but Travis Dye fumbled and Cal recovered, for Oregon’s second red- zone turnover of the game. Beavs get first Pac-12 victory By Steve Gress Corvallis Gazette-Times It would have been natural for the Oregon State football team to have a bit of a letdown after jumping out to a 21-0 lead six minutes into Saturday’s Pac-12 game against UCLA inside the Rose Bowl. But the Beavers knew there was still so much time left and they had yet to put togeth- er a full four quarters of football this season. And that had cost them in 31-28 losses to both Hawaii and Stanford. “There was a lot of energy but people kept reiterating we have to finish and we can’t (lose focus) and do what we did in previous weeks and just play a complete a game,” junior receiver Isaiah Hodgins said. Added coach Jonathan Smith, who grew up in Pasadena: “We knew that 21 wasn’t going to win the game, so we’d have to con- tinue to score. We knew those guys had some talent on the other side and they were going to score. You’d love to start that way, but we knew there was a ton of football left.” There would be no letdown this time COLLEGE CROSS COUNTRY Michelle Herbes placed second, Me- gan Boals broke into the top 10, and the Eastern Oregon University women’s cross country team took the top spot in the Gold Race — which featured several Cascade Collegiate Conference schools — Saturday at the Charles Bowles Invitational in Salem. “I have been trying to get a team to win that meet for 29 years, so kudos to the ladies,” head coach Ben Welch said. “Down through the years, we have been second many times between the genders, so it is very satisfying to get the ‘W’ yesterday.” Herbes’ time of 18:02.8 and Boals’ time of 18:39.3 — which was good for seventh — powered EOU, which scored 52 points to edge out Lane Community Ducks win ugly over Cal, 17-7 By Anne M. Peterson THE OBSERVER — 9A around as the Beavers made play after play and never allowed UCLA to get closer than 10 points the rest of the game in a 48-31 victory. “We’ve been so close for so long so it felt good to finally get one,” linebacker Avery Roberts said. It’s just the second Pac-12 win in the last 20 for the Beavers, who are now 2-3 overall on the season and 1-1 in conference play, tied with Stanford for second place in the North Division. “It’s satisfying for sure,” Smith said. “Es- pecially going back to how hard these kids are working and staying on it and trusting us and trusting the process, and still believ- ing in the things and I think that it showed tonight. We’ve been talking about responses and each side picking each other up and I thought we did that tonight.” Quarterback Jake Luton had one of the better games of his Oregon State career, finishing with five passing touchdowns — three to Hodgins — and rushing for a six on a closing drive that sealed the win. College (67 points) for the top spot. Eastern’s Ella Coughlan also broke into the top 20, placing 19th with a time of 19:26.3. Katie Jo Gebhardt took 23rd in 19:32.6, and Molly Gulden rounded out the top five for EOU in 26th in 19:37.3. “The women went into the race with the mantra of ‘RTW’ (race to win) and despite being on the tired side before the race started, stayed focused and kept after it,” Welch said. “We are in a tough training cycle right now, so I was very happy with how well they com- peted.” The EOU men placed third in the Gold Race with 107 points, behind Spokane Community College (48) and San Diego Mesa (50), but ahead of three other CCC teams. Alex Navarro placed 10th in a time of 24:57.2 to lead the Mountaineers. Travis Running followed in 29th in 25:47.1 to head a cluster of EOU runners who finished close together. Braxton Wilson was 33rd in 26:02.6, Hunter Schiess followed in 35th in 26:06, and Hunter Nichols was 43rd in 26:19.7. “The men competed very well too and actually dropped a huge chunk of time off their previous season best,” Welch said. “(They) got out well and worked their way up throughout the race with most of them catching people through- out the race.” The Mountaineers return to action Oct. 12 at the LCSC Warrior Open in Lewiston, Idaho. MEN Continued from Page 6A give EOU a 2-1 lead at the half, and Eastern broke it open with two goals in less than four minutes early in the second half. Erik Mattice found Patrick Larsen for a 3-1 lead in the 58th minute, then scored unassisted in the 62nd for the final margin. “They came out early (and) scored quick,” Mills said. “They let one in, but as soon as they did they said, ‘Let’s step up and play our game.’ They put three more in the back of the net. The hard work definitely paid off.” Max Rose, who put together what may have been his best weekend of the season, had five saves in the win Friday. On Saturday, EOU had to play the role of comeback kids early. A goal by Provi- dence’s Manuel Garcia put the Argos ahead 1-0 in the ninth minute, a margin they maintained throughout the half despite being outshot by Eastern. The Mountaineers needed less than three minutes to pull even after the break, with Moran corralling a ball that slipped past a Provi- dence defender and putting in a shot from 20 yards to tie the score at 1-1 in the 48th minute. It was the first of many chances by both teams in the second half, but both keepers — Max Rose for EOU and Hernan Perez for Providence — turned in solid efforts to keep their respective teams even. Perez finished with seven saves and Rose two, but Rose’s stopped a pair of for-sure goals. “He had two saves that were game-saving saves at the time,” Mills said. “They would have scored that (and) Ronald Bond/The Observer Javier Moran reacts after scoring the tying goal during Saturday’s match. it would have gone downhill. He kept us in it. I was proud of him. The work he’s been putting in really showed to- night, even though we didn’t get the result we wanted.” The game appeared it was headed for overtime before George Holloway put home a shot on a loose ball — one Mills said the Mountaineers should have cleared — with just three minutes to play to win the match. “He had an open shot. We switched off for that second, didn’t clear the ball when we should have,” Mills said. The outcome was the latest in what has been a recurring theme for EOU this fall — close games. Of the Mountain- eers’ 10 matches, seven have either been a one-goal game or ended in a tie. Eastern is 2-4-1 in those instances. It’s 2-1 in all other contests. “A lot of it was we had to figure ourselves out the first part of the season, (and) CORRECTION The Sept. 30 article on page 8A, ‘EOU secures first CCC win’ stated the incorrect name of the player who scored the win- ning goal against College of Idaho. The correct player was Dil- lon Van Rensburg. injuries don’t help,” Mills said, noting he had at least two players Saturday who either didn’t play at all or were limited to just a few minutes due to prior injuries. Eastern lost a key piece mid- way through the second half when Carlos Solorio went down with an ankle injury. Moran even missed a portion of the first half before return- ing to score his goal. Eastern (4-5-1 overall, 2-3-0 CCC) travels to Oregon Tech Friday.