Trojans Battle Tough in Draw with Warriors

SALEM, Ore. – The RV Taylor Trojans (2-0-1) erased an early 1-0 deficit with a dominant second-half performance, but it was not enough to emerge victorious in a 1-1 draw at Corban University (1-2-1) Saturday afternoon.

The Warriors jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 10 minutes into the match thanks to a pass that just seeped through Taylor's back line and set up an easy goal.

Corban threatened to score again with a minute left in the first half, but Hannah Brackenbury came out from the goal area to make an aggressive save. TU's defense was then well positioned behind her to defend against a potential rebound shot to keep the score at 1-0 heading into the intermission.

The Trojans had some chances with five shots on goal in the first half, but never had a truly great look against the staunch Warrior defense.

That all changed after halftime when TU consistently pressured Corban's defenders and generated several good scoring opportunities. Still, Taylor had nothing to show for it until after head coach Scott Stan made a mass substitution of five players during the water timeout midway through the half.

In the 70th minute, Morgan Fletemeyer, who was one of Stan's recent subs, dribbled along the goal line and kicked a perfectly placed shot into the right corner of the net for the equalizer.

The ball continued to stay in Corban's own end almost exclusively through the end of the match, but the Trojans simply could not net the game-winning goal.

TU's impressive stat sheet by match's end saw it hold advantages in shots (19-6), shots on goal (11-4) and corner kicks (5-0) over Corban.

Speaking of the mid-game adjustments for Taylor, Stan said that he challenged his team at halftime to "let the ball work for you."

"[Our players] combined better, they found the gaps, and then they got excited because they were getting shots that were quality instead of weak like they were in the first half," said Stan.

He also shared his thoughts postgame on his team's trip out to Salem, Ore.

"We played two teams that won [a lot of] games between them last year. Northwest was a national tournament team, Corban won [11] games, so I learned we can go see different styles, play against other ranked or very-close-to-ranked opponents and get a good result on the road," said Stan.

His team will have a chance to perform for its home crowd next Wednesday against the University of Northwestern Ohio (2-0-0) at Turner Stadium. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m.