Freshman Lilly Ellis broke a scoreless deadlock with a header in the 76th minute and the Philomath High girls soccer team held on for a 1-0 Oregon West Conference victory at Cascade on Thursday.
Ellis got her head on a free kick delivered by junior Bella Nuñez for the game’s only goal, extending the Warriors’ winning streak to four games after a 1-3 start to the season.
“We had to battle for 80 minutes against a very defensive team,” PHS coach Mat Phelps said. “They drop back a lot of players and have a good goalkeeper.”
Philomath outshot Cascade 12-4 in shots on goal and held a 6-1 advantage on corner kicks, but the Cougars’ packed-in defense kept the Warriors off the board through a scoreless first half.
“In the second half, we started to find better opportunities working for each other more,” Phelps said. “There were several close chances but finally broke through on a free kick. Bella sent a great ball in and Lilly got her head to it for the goal.”
Warriors goalkeeper Makena Sleeman finished with four saves to preserve the shutout.
Philomath improved to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Cascade dropped to 4-3-1 overall and 2-1 in the league.
The Warriors play at Central on Tuesday.
Philomath 1, Cascade 0
Thursday, Oct. 1, at Cascade HS, Turner
Teams (Record) 1 2 F Philomath (5-3, 3-0) 0 1 1 Cascade (4-3-1, 2-1) 0 0 0
SECOND HALF—1, Philomath, L. Ellis (Nuñez), 76th minute.