Escobedo Breaks All-Time Save Record

Wednesday, September 13

Portland, Ore.

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

1-3

Concordia (Ore.)

3-2

OT 5

OT 6

Cal Baptist

Concordia (Ore.)

Photo by: Sammi Wellman

Escobedo Breaks All-Time Save Record

9/13/2017 9:24:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

By: Sammi Wellman, Director of Sports Information

PORTLAND — After coming from behind on Saturday to grab a victory, California Baptist University had to come from behind again Wednesday night at Concordia University of Portland. Unfortunately for the Lancers, a penalty kick was called in overtime, resulting in a 2-1 loss.

The Lancers drop to 1-3, while the Cavaliers improve to a 3-2 mark.

"I'm very proud of the players' work rate, our ability to battle in adverse circumstances and overall performance tonight," said Coach Kristen St. Clair. "We created some excellent scoring opportunities, got a little unlucky hitting the post and forced their goalkeeper to make saves. I believe we were the better team on the night and our overall performance reflected that."

Goalkeeper Sara Escobedo made five saves in the game to set a new CBU record for most career saves, now sitting at 246 all-time stops.

"It's great to see Sara set the CBU women's soccer career saves record," said St. Clair. "She has worked very hard on her game over the past four years to put herself and her team in the best position possible to be successful when called upon and many of those saves have been game-changing saves."

CU scored first in the 16^th minute, but the Lancers stayed focused and kept battling.

Ten minutes later, CBU found the equalizer. After the Cavaliers committed a foul just inside their half, Symone Mack knocked a long ball into the box. Neither team could quite get control of it until Jordan Dow took advantage of a loose ball at the top of the box and volleyed it into the back of the net, 1-1.

The Lancers looked to find the go-ahead goal just before the half as Haley Wheelon won a tackle in the midfield and Rebecca Romero snatched up the free ball. She then put Lanai Navarro in behind the defense, but a Cavalier managed to get a foot on it at the last minute to result in a corner.

Concordia put in a last-ditch effort before the half, but the Lancer defense held firm to put the two teams into halftime deadlocked at 1-1.

Coming out of the half, CU tried to grab the upper hand again, but Escobedo made a point-blank save to keep it even. Escobedo had to come up big again with 35 minutes left to play, diving on a through ball before it could result in a breakaway.

The Cavaliers gave CBU another scare with just over 20 minutes left in regulation, forcing Escobedo to tip it over and then cut off the angle on a shot attempt off the resulting corner kick. She officially took over the all-time career save leader spot in the 75^th minute by stopping another CU attempt.

Seconds later, Dow fired off a shot on the other end of the field that was blocked before Miranda Martinez put her rebound attempt on frame, but the CU goalkeeper came up with the save.

With five minutes left in regulation, both teams turned on extra pressure hoping to avoid overtime.

Dow looked like she might have some late heroics as Desarae Felix laid off a perfectly weighted ball for the forward. Dow knocked it toward the far post, but it just missed left of the goal.

It seemed extra time was inevitable, despite the Cavaliers trying to attack with the final countdown going off on the public address.

Both teams battled in the first 10 minutes, with Felix giving CBU its best opportunity of the period with just about a minute to go. She ran onto a loose ball just outside the box, drawing the Cavalier goalkeeper out, took a touch past the diving keeper, but hit the post to keep things even at 1-1.

In the final overtime period, with just 4:51 left on the clock, the referee saw a foul in the Lancers' 18-yard box for a penalty kick. Escobedo read the attempt, but it was a well-hit ball to give the Cavaliers the 2-1 win.

"It's unfortunate," said St. Clair. "You hate to see a game decided like that, but that's soccer some times. We're getting better every day and we'll go back to work tomorrow and begin preparing for Saint Martin's."

The Lancers continue action in the Pacific Northwest, heading to Washington for a Saturday match at SMU at 1:00 p.m.