The Oregon State Women’s soccer team defeated the North Dakota Fighting Hawks by a score of 3-2 at Paul Lorenz Field on Friday night to improve to undefeated 8-0 record on the young season. 

 Despite a late push from the Fighting Hawks, the Beaver defense clamped down and was able to see out a one-goal victory.  

 After being dominated in the possession game, North Dakota hung around for the entirety of the match. The two teams went into halftime tied at zero a piece, even though the Beavers held a 15-0 advantage in terms of shots on goals.  

  Oregon State kept the pressure on to start the second half, and the Beavers finally broke through in the 55th minute when freshman forward Mckenna Martinez capitalized on a ball that was played through the center of the box by senior defender Helena Brown, and gave the Beavers a 1-0 lead.  

  Oregon State’s celebration was short-lived, however, as less than one minute later North Dakota redshirt-junior forward Hannah Olson found a breakaway path at midfield and finished off her run with a left-footed shot that found the bottom right corner.  

  As the game progressed for twenty minutes without another goal, the loud and energetic crowd at the Paul Lorenz field grew nervous with a sense that time was running out.  But in the 76th minute, redshirt-senior midfielder Mylene Gorzynski took advantage of a goalkeeping error and put the Beavers back in front with under twenty minutes to play.  

  Just a few minutes later, Martinez gave Oregon State some breathing room by scoring her second goal of the night off an incredible individual effort that ended with a left-footed strike to the back of the net.  

  The Fighting Hawks didn’t go away quietly after finding themselves down 3-1, as junior midfielder Bailey Mcnitt found herself behind the Beaver defense and scored in the 85th minute to make it a one-goal game with five minutes to go.  

  After allowing the late goal, Oregon State was able to take control by possessing the ball and wound down the clock to secure a 3-2 victory.  

  Despite the scoreline, the Beavers dominated the match from start to finish.  In the end Oregon State outshot North Dakota 27-10, and took 13 corner kicks to the Fighting Hawks zero.  The Beavers also held the vast majority of possession and were by far the more attacking team.  

  With her brace, Martinez now leads the team with six goals on the season. Two fellow Beavers, graduate midfielder Kaillen Fried and redshirt-junior defender Maddy Ellsworth, played all 90 minutes of the match.

  Next up, the Beavers will head to California for a three-game road trip that includes games at USC, Stanford and Cal. The Beavers will return home on October 7th for a matchup against the Arizona State Sun Devils at 6:00 PM.