Nicasio hands first win for Evergreen State with late winner over Northwest Univ, 2-1 

The winning goal exemplified Geoduck soccer as scrappy but gritty as Nicasio, who also played for local amateur club FC Olympia, took advantage of a deflected shot from a set piece to send an easy tap in past Northwest keeper Michael Kot from three yards out in the 90th minute to deliver their first win of the conference.  

A scoreless 86 minutes of back-and-forth physical soccer turned into complete madness in the remaining minutes until the final whistle. Juan Mendez opened the scoring for the hosts in the 86th minute as he was unmarked for an open header from a right-side cross delivered by Alan Barragan. 

About a minute later, the Eagles found an equalizer from a penalty kick scored by Damian Santos as he bulleted the ball past Evergreen goalkeeper Brandon Gribek before Nicasio’s winning goal near crunch time. 

“I frequently remind our players that they must be committed to compete for the full 90 minutes, and we saw that today with the goals late in the game. They worked extremely hard all week on the defensive organization, and we saw that out on the field this afternoon,” said Evergreen Head Men’s Soccer Coach Steve Schmidt. 

It was a rough affair for both sides, who sought their first win in the conference, as reflected in the post-match stats, where a total of 37 fouls were committed.

Referee Soo-Hui Um brandished 14 cards, including a red card for each team, as Northwest’s Andre Santos and Evergreen’s Marvin Sea were both sent off for receiving their second yellow cards in those chaotic final minutes of the fixture. 

The Geoducks had 11 shots in total with two attempts on target, being the two goals scored, while the visitors were more wasteful with 15 shots with nine shots in goal. Gribek was also an x-factor on the defensive end as the Geoduck keeper had eight saves and only conceded a penalty he nearly saved in the whole 90 minutes. 

The Geoducks will try to pounce on the positive momentum as they play Warner Pacific University in Portland, Oregon, on Friday, Oct. 4. Game time at the Eastside Timbers Sports Complex is set for 2:30 p.m. PDT.