The Barometer Online

Issue date: 10/2/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Burton Jodie Taylor keeps a ball way from a Portland State defender Sunday afternoon in OSU's 2-1 overtime win.

unday's preseason finale against the Portland State Vikings proved to be anything but a final tune up for the Oregon State women's soccer team. The Vikings controlled the tempo for much of the game by constantly pushing the ball and looking for any Beaver mistake. Najma Homidi's goal in the 88th minute tied the contest and set Jodie Taylor up to be the hero of the game. Taylor gave the Beavers a victory in overtime by knocking in the winning goal.

Taylor's overtime goal ended a frustrating day for the Beavers (7-2-2) who missed several opportunities to score and were minutes away from losing to the winless Vikings (0-10-1).

"This is always a very difficult game for us and I give them credit for that," OSU coach Steve Fennah said. "At the start of the game I thought we were flat. You can't afford to do that because they are a hard working team and they will battle and scrap. You can't allow yourself not to be ready to play. Credit the team because they put themselves in a hole and they started to do the things they needed to do from the start of the game."

With few scoring options on offense, the Vikings had instead been trying to score off the opposition's mistakes. In the 54th minute, Juli Edwards notched her first goal of the season off a free kick from 20 yards out due to an incidental Beaver handball in the goal box.

The goal scored was only the second of the season by the Vikings, who suddenly felt in control. Looking for any lineup combination that could score and tie the game, Fennah inserted Homidi with less than eight minutes to play. Immediately, it paid huge dividends.

With less than three minutes to play in regulation, Lauren Wippel crossed a spectacular ball that Homidi headed in to tie the game. The goal was Homidi's second of the season and it could not have come at a better time.

"I was trying to create for my teammates and I got lucky because Lauren Wippel played a perfect ball, so it was hard for me to screw up," Homidi said.

"It was good for Naj to get on there because she has threatened to score a bunch of goals this season on headers and it was nice to see that one creep in," Fennah added.

Continued...

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