For Oregon State women’s soccer seniors, their final game at Paul Lorenz Field was four years in the making, as the Beavers secured a priceless win in their final home game of 2025, upsetting nationally ranked Santa Clara 2-1 on senior night.
In a crucial final home game of the season, the Beavers sat in a three-way tie for second coming into the game and only three points behind first- place Santa Clara. A win would tie the Beavers with the Broncos for first, making this a potentially season-defining match.
But before the match, 12 Beavers seniors were thanked for their contributions to the program, with family and friends celebrating one final game at Lorenz.
Santa Clara began the match on the front foot, carving out a few chances and forcing Beavers goalkeeper Mya Sanchez into a few crucial saves. In the 17th minute, Sanchez denied Broncos attacker Kennedy Schoennauer with a smart kick save that would result in a corner.
Off the ensuing corner, Broncos’ midfielder Kat Johnson would deflect the ball past Sanchez and into the net, giving the Broncos an early lead in the crucial match.
After being dominated in the game’s first moments, the goal seemingly woke up the Beavers, who went to work leveling the match, with senior striker Mckenna Martinez firing multiple shots, building momentum for the home team.
The Beavers would equalize ten minutes after going behind, with the two seniors Carly Carraher and Katie Godden combining to level the match. Godden got in front of a Broncos defender and glanced an inch-perfect cross from Carraher into the far corner of the net, leveling at 1-1.
Both sides would create good chances following the equalizer, with the most noteworthy moment after the goal being a crucial block from another Beavers senior, Amaya Bautista, who denied a long-range Broncos shot with her head.
The Beavers and Broncos entered the break level in an intense, well-matched first half.
The second half would be even more hard-fought, with both sides battling to create chances, which were hard to come by.
Finally, in the 67th minute, after a spirited charge forward by Bautista and Martinez, aided by confusion from the Broncos’ defense, an errant clearance fell to Beavers junior Paola Figueroa. Her measured lob landed in the back of a gaping goal, giving the Beavers a 2-1 lead.
The game hit an even higher level of intensity, peaking in the final ten minutes of the match, first with a clash between Juju Barker and Broncos captain Sally Menti, resulting in yellow cards for both teams.
The Broncos nearly tied it late, with a long-range effort rattling off the crossbar, before winning three corners back-to-back in the final five minutes.
The last of these three corners was the closest the Broncos would come to leveling, with a header narrowly missing the far post from less than 10 yards from goal.
After a last ten minutes of nail-biting drama, the final buzzer sounded, and the emotional buildup of four years of dedication was let out by Beavers seniors, celebrating in front of the home fans, and moving head coach Caroline Kelly to tears.
“We owned it today, I am so proud, we played our game…so proud of you guys for sticking with each other, ” said Kelly to her team post-game in a video posted on X.
With the priceless win, the Beavers moved to a three-way tie for first with two crucial away games to go, both on the road against Washington State on Nov. 6 and Portland on Nov. 9.
