PORTLAND, Ore. – Battling the entire second half down a player, Oregon Tech drew even in the 73rd minute, but Multnomah struck off a set piece inside the final three minutes to secure a 3-2 victory in the Cascade Conference women's soccer opener for both teams.
 
Trailing 2-1 late in the first half, the Lady Owls (1-2-1, 0-1 CCC) committed a foul on a MU breakaway attempt – drawing an automatic red card – forcing Tech to play the final 48 minutes with 10 players.
 
The Owls withstood a blast off the crossbar on the ensuing free kick, before controlling the run of play for the majority of the second half. OIT got even midway through the half, as Brianna Lewis slotted home a cross from Miranda Valle.
 
Unfortunately for the visitors, the Lions (3-2, 1-0) earned a late corner kick, with Megan Castricum finding an unmarked Daniela Gomez for the game-winner with 127 seconds left on the clock.
 
"A lot of effort went into coming back from being down a goal twice," said OIT head coach Tom Moore. "There are some glaring things we need to clean up and that happening now hopefully allows us to solve it earlier, rather than later.
 
An identical corner kick – Castricum serving a ball to Gomez – got MU on the board in the 14th minute, before Karly White got Tech square in the 27th minute with a drive to the right corner of the net off a feed from Alexandra Trinidad. The Lions regained the lead in the 34th minute, as Sydney Holmes played Sarah Wong in the area, with Wong finishing in traffic.
 
OIT finished with an 8-6 edge in shots – including a 7-5 edge in shots on goal.
 
Tomorrow, Tech heads to Warner Pacific, with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m. – as the Knights played Southern Oregon this afternoon to a 1-1 draw.
 
"Tomorrow is going to be a tough one, we'll really need something special from this group," Moore said. "Having a team-first mentality is a must from here on out."