Fighting a determined North Marion squad Thursday on the opponent’s Senior Night, the Philomath High School girls soccer team scored in the final minute to earn a 4-4 draw and remain unbeaten in Oregon West Conference play.
The Warriors (12-1-1 overall, 8-0-1 Oregon West) trailed 4-2 with 10 minutes to play but sophomore Kya Bolton scored twice on long-distance goals to stun the home crowd.
“Really tough game, we battled constantly,” PHS coach Mat Phelps said. “The girls showed amazing resilience to fight back and tie the game multiple times.”
North Marion (7-6-1, 7-1-1) never trailed, scoring its first goal in the third minute. Five minutes later, senior Ana Candanoza tied it up with an assist by Bolton.
“Ana had a nice hard low finish for our first, which was really important to even it up on a Senior Night for them,” Phelps said. “They had a lot of emotion and energy and we had to answer several times.”
After the Huskies regained the lead 2-1 in the 32nd minute, Philomath tied it in the final minute of the first half on the first of three unassisted goals for Bolton.
North Marion scored in the opening minute of the second half and then added another goal in the 59th minute to build the 4-2 advantage.
“Bella (Nunez), Ana and Lacey (Bacho) played really tough in the midfield,” Phelps said. “Bethany (Cannon) worked so hard up front nonstop.”
On the defensive end, Phelps said the back line responded well to limit North Marion’s fast play. In addition, the coach said goalkeeper Makena Sleeman “made a couple of big saves.”
The tie snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Warriors.
Philomath can win the Oregon West Conference regular-season title outright on Tuesday with a Senior Night win over Newport. The Warriors beat the Cubs, 6-3, in their first meeting on the coast. The game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start.
Philomath 4, North Marion 4
Thursday, Oct. 23, at North Marion HS, Aurora
| Teams (Record) | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Philomath (12-1-1, 8-0-1) | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| North Marion (7-6-1, 7-1-1) | 2 | 2 | 4 |
First Half — 1, North Marion, 3rd minute; 2, Philomath, Candanoza (Bolton), 8th minute; 3, North Marion, 32nd minute; 4, Philomath, Bolton, 40th minute.
Second Half — 5, North Marion, 41st minute; 6, North Marion, 59th minute; 7, Philomath, Bolton, 70th minute; 8, Philomath, Bolton, 80th minute.
Junior Varsity — Philomath 8, North Marion 0. PHS Goals — Wilson, Wilson, R. Oster, Mecham, Badazadigan, Davis, A. Oster, Robertson (Steen).