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Intercollegiate AthleticsFor Sports EnthusiastsFor Student Athletes |
Geoducks Earn Region 1 Champion Title! |
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November 5, 2004 PORTLAND, OR -- For the first time in the history of the Evergreen's Soccer program, the Geoducks are NAIA Region I Champions. With a 2-0 win over Cascade Collegiate Conference foe Warner Pacific-a surprise winner over perennial power Simon Fraser-the Geoducks claimed a spot in the NAIA National Tournament November 17-23 in Olathe, Kansas. Evergreen advanced to the Region I final with a shootout win over Cascade Conference regular season champion Concordia University on Friday night as goalkeeper Tom Kneeshaw saved two Cavalier penalty kicks. Saturday's final followed the script the two teams wrote in the regular season as the Geoducks had already downed the Knights by scores of 4-1 and 2-0. Still, the game was a tense and even affair with Evergreen recording ten shots to Warner Pacific's nine. The Knights had more shots on goal-nine to five-and forced eight corners to Evergreen's one. But the difference-maker in the game was Joe Gjertsen, the Cascade Collegiate Conference leading scorer and player of the year. In the 79th minute Gjertsen went to gather a loose ball in the Warner Pacific penalty box and was tumbled down by a Knight defender for a penalty kick. Gjertsen converted the penalty kick for his 23rd goal of the year. The Geoducks added an exclamation point in the last minute of the game when playmaker Greg Preciado found Gjertsen on top of the box. Gjertsen made good a second time as he beat Knight keeper Cameron Martin with a 20-yard blast. With the win Evergreen moves to 14-6 on the season and heads to the Midwest to represent The Evergreen State College in their first National Championship Tournament since the men's basketball team lost in the second round of the 2002 tournament. The trip to Kansas will be the last hurrah for the core of this Geoduck squad as Gjertsen and second leading-scorer Nathan Ford are both seniors, as is Jason Gjertsen, the team's assist leader, goalkeeper Tom Kneeshaw and key defender Nick Mancaruso. The tournament pairings will be posted on the NAIA website when they are announced: http://www.naia.org/msoccer/championship/2004/facts.html |
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Last Updated: September 12, 2007 All content and images on this site are copyrighted by The Evergreen State
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