No. 9 WSU soccer maintains an undefeated record after beating the University of Oregon 2-1  Thursday night. With two different goal scorers, the Cougars advanced with another win added to their perfect 9-0-0 record for the season.

After their win last week against then-No. 8 University of California, Los Angeles, the Cougars came into the game tonight with motivation to keep their winning streak. Head Coach Todd Shulenberger is proud of his team’s performance after coming home from a crucial game away.

“It’s a tough test for sure, what a great team Oregon is, but it was definitely something I wanted to see. I mean you go and beat one of the best teams in America, what are you going to do about your next opponent?” Shulenberger said. “UCLA is in the national championship just about every year, so to beat them and bounce back at home against a very good Oregon team is very impressive.”

In the first half both WSU and Oregon battled back and forth on either end of the field trying to get points on the board. The Cougars put up eight shots and the Ducks put up seven in the first half, however, no goals were scored.

In the first three minutes of the second half, sophomore forward Elyse Bennett scored the first goal of the game. This was Bennett’s third goal of the season as she was assisted by sophomore midfielder Sydney Pulver.

“We knew that the wide channels were going to be open because they like to crunch the middle, so I made my run wide and saw Syndey coming in the middle,” Bennett said. “Then I saw that gap between the outside back so I just made a slit run behind them and took and touch and hit then hit it near post.”

After a foul on freshman defender Mykiaa Minniss, the Ducks had an opportunity for a free kick where Oregon senior midfielder Sofia Chambers scored the Ducks’ only goal of the night in the 58th minute. However, senior midfielder Maegan O’Neill scored the Cougars’ final goal of the night as she was assisted by senior defender Maddy Haro, her ninth assist on the season.

The Cougars will be back on the field at noon Sunday as they take on Oregon State in Pullman.