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.