Pendleton, OR - Blue Mountain Community College is located in Pendleton, OR, known regionally by avid rodeo fans and participants for the Pendleton Roundup. Wednesday afternoon's first round playoff soccer match between the Trojans and the Timberwolves lived up to the town's reputation in a wild match that featured nine total goals.
The home team was on the board early on within the first couple minutes scoring on a free kick that hung in the air and over the outstretched arms of starting goalkeeper Matarr Saho. Fifteen minutes later BMCC struck again with a great shot from outside the box and the Trojans were quickly down 2-0, with a raucous Blue Mountain crowd of about 150 people cheering on. When it would be easy to fold under pressure, Everett responded. A long ball played by Leo Jaramillo was misplayed by the BMCC keeper with a clearance that found Mateus de Mendonca who chipped it over the out of position keeper and put EvCC on the board.
It appeared as though Everett would shift the momentum of the match after that goal, but a third goal was scored within the span of four minutes. After a collison in the box awarded BMCC with a penalty kick, EvCC was back down by two goals with about 25 minutes to play in the half. The Trojans showed more resilency by keeping up the offensive pressure, coming up with three more shots on goal. Then in the 38th minute it would be the visitors turn to capitalize on an awarded penalty kick. River Stewart scored his 15th goal on the season and brought Everett back to within one. Two minutes later River was involved again, this time providing the assist to Axel Rochel who tied the game up at three just before halftime.
The second half started with more fireworks. EvCC earned a corner kick in the 47th minute, but Blue Mountain defended it well and transitioned out to beat the recovering defense and got back on top 4-3. Again, Everett held their composure and in the 51st minute Juan Castillo drew the game back even 4-4 off of an assist from River Stewart via Dani Amador.
As the game remained deadlocked the intensity of the match continued to build, both teams fighting to keep their seasons alive. The tie would be broken in the 67th minute when Meteus de Mondonca launched a shot that would be deflected by the BMCC keeper. Juan Castillo was in the right spot at the right time, gathered the ball and sent it into the back of the net for his second goal of the game, and put the Trojans back on top for good.
The Everett defense held for the remaining 25 minutes of action and eventually the final whistle blew sending EvCC back to the NWAC quarter finals for the second straight season. The Trojans will face 4th ranked Tacoma CC in Tacoma this Saturday, with a 12:00pm kick off. Everett played Tacoma earlier this season in a close game back on September 18th, resulting in a 3-4 loss.
