The Philomath High School girls soccer team spent the second half of Wednesday afternoon’s Class 4A playoff opener digging out of a two-goal hole. Estacada needed just one late moment to end it.
Senior Ellianna Zavala scored in the 79th minute off an assist from senior Willow Wiley, lifting the ninth-seeded Rangers to a 3-2 first-round victory over the eighth-seeded Warriors on the PHS pitch.
The loss ended Philomath’s season at 11-4-1 and snapped an 11-game unbeaten streak for the Oregon West Conference champions.
Gallery: PHS girls soccer vs. Estacada (Nov. 4, 2026)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s girls soccer loss to Estacada in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs on Wednesday.
“Obviously, we wanted to win this game, but it just didn’t fall our way,” Philomath coach Mat Phelps said.
The Warriors trailed 2-0 at halftime before junior Kya Bolton and freshman Lilly Ellis scored 5 minutes apart to tie the game.
“At halftime, I saw a bunch of girls who were not satisfied with the way it was and didn’t want to leave it like that,” Phelps said. “We’ve worked really hard all year, and that was what we were going to do. We were going to work really hard for 40 minutes and see what happens. And I felt like they did that.”
Phelps said the Warriors switched some positions and adjusted their formation to be more attacking-minded in the second half.
The changes paid off in the 55th minute when Bolton scored with an assist from sophomore Autumn Wilson. In the 60th minute, Bolton put a corner kick into play and Ellis finished in traffic to make it 2-2.
Philomath kept the pressure on from there. Bolton sent in corner kicks in the 69th and 73rd minutes, and she and Wilson had a chance develop in the box in the 77th minute but couldn’t get a shot off. A minute later, Wilson set up Bolton, but the shot went right to the keeper.
Estacada then scored the game-winner.
“In the second half, we controlled the whole half and had chances to get more,” Phelps said. “They just didn’t fall in.”
Philomath possessed the ball well early but generated few scoring chances in the first half. Senior goalkeeper Makena Sleeman kept the game scoreless with saves on a fourth-minute attempt by Estacada freshman Savannah Spencer and a 16th-minute shot by sophomore Zoe Riehl aimed at the upper right corner of the net.
Estacada (12-3-1) broke through in the 24th minute when senior Ren Suo scored off an assist from Zavala. Suo struck again in the 33rd minute, scoring in traffic in front of the net off a Spencer corner kick.
Philomath nearly answered a minute later, but Estacada junior goalkeeper Grace Sager went high for a fingertip save on a shot by junior Reagan Nuño.
Phelps said the Rangers’ speed created problems.
“They had some matchup stuff, just with a lot of speed and dribblers,” Phelps said. “We had to chase them quite a bit when they would dribble a long time, and that was challenging for us. We’re more of a control team, and the speed honestly was a factor.”
Philomath entered the season with plenty of unknowns. The Warriors lost several seniors to graduation, had four freshmen on the varsity roster, moved players into new positions and dealt with injuries throughout the fall.
“It’s kind of taken all year to feel like we’re a cohesive group,” Phelps said. “But our strategy was we’re going to do this as a team, and we grew as a team and really became a good team.”
Philomath opened the season 0-2 before turning things around and ended up going 9-0-1 to win the Oregon West Conference title.
“It was like, what’s this going to look like?” Phelps said about heading into the season. “And we battled back, went undefeated in league and had a really great year.”
Philomath will lose six seniors off the squad — Sleeman, Annaleise Brown, Ella Bumstead, Jordyn Hood, Angelica Morales-Marquez and Lucy Thomas.
Estacada, the Tri-Valley Conference runner-up, advances to the second round to face top-seeded The Dalles on the road. The Dalles eliminated Baker, 7-0.
Estacada 3, Philomath 2
Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Philomath HS
Teams (Record) 1 2 F Estacada (12-3-1) 2 1 3 Philomath (11-4-1) 0 2 2
FIRST HALF—1, Estacada, Suo (Zavala), 24th minute; 2, Estacada, Suo, 33rd minute.
SECOND HALF—3, Philomath, Bolton (Wilson), 55th minute; 4, Philomath, L. Ellis (Bolton), 60th minute; 5, Estacada, Zavala (Wiley), 79th minute.
