Soccer looks to beat Beavers

WSU returns home to Lower Soccer Field after week of play in Hawaii

Junior+defender+Brianna+Alger+fights+for+the+ball+with+red-shirt+sophomore+Montana+forward+Rita+Lang+on+Aug.+30+at+the+Lower+Soccer+Field+in+Pullman.+

SERENA HOFDAHL

Junior defender Brianna Alger fights for the ball with red-shirt sophomore Montana forward Rita Lang on Aug. 30 at the Lower Soccer Field in Pullman.

JACLYN SEIFERT, Evergreen reporter

No. 21 Cougar soccer will host the Oregon State Beavers in their first Pac-12 game at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Lower Soccer Field.

Oregon State (8-0-0) will start Pac-12 play as the only perfect team in the conference.

The Cougars (7-1-0) last played the Beavers in Pullman a year ago and won 2-0. With 34 shots, WSU recorded the sixth-most shots in program history and the most since 35 against the University of the Pacific in 1993.

Senior forward Morgan Weaver leads WSU with five goals, and OSU’s redshirt sophomore forward McKenzie Weinert leads her team with six goals.

Weaver said she feels confident going into her team’s first conference game of the season.

“We are not content, but we are feeling good,” Weaver said.

Both teams have played eight games and share similar stats. WSU has scored 23 goals this season with 24 assists and averages 2.88 goals per game. OSU has scored 21 goals with 19 assists and averages 2.62 goals per game.

WSU has allowed seven goals this season and Oregon State has allowed three.

Both teams share a similar number of fouls committed with WSU having 82 and the Beavers with 86. OSU have suffered 82 fouls while the Cougars have suffered 15.

WSU sophomore forward Molly Myers, who scored the game-winning goal against Pepperdine, said her team has been looking forward to this match all season long.

“It adds pressure,”Myers said. “To prove to everybody we can win, and we do this.”

Myers scored her first goal of the season against Pepperdine and said she feels a lot more comfortable and confident going into the next match.

There is nothing quite like the feeling after scoring a goal, Myers said.

“Having the team run up to you makes you just feel so good,” Myers said.

WSU plays the Beavers at 7 p.m. on Saturday on the Lower Soccer Field in Pullman.