CALDWELL, Idaho – Octavio Hermosillo drove home a goal in the 56th minute and the Warner Pacific defense made the goal stand up, as the Knights spoiled College of Idaho's Senior Day with a 2-1 victory at Simplot Stadium.
The Knights (3-8, 3-8 CCC) survived multiple point-blank chances by the Yotes to earn their first road victory of the 2017 season.
C of I (8-7, 5-6) opened the scoring in the tenth minute, as
Carter Perry made a long run down the right side, slotting a pass across the 6-yard-box to an unmarked
Cole Fuller, who finished to the bottom right corner of the net.
WPC drew even in the 24th minute as a Knights player was fouled in the box trying to play a long ball in the area. Adam Aristo converted the penalty kick to the bottom left corner of the net to tie the match at 1-1.
Fuller had two chances in the next three minutes to give C of I the lead – but keeper Bailey Thomason stuffed the point-blank attempts from inside the box to keep the score square.
The Knights grabbed the lead 10 minutes into the second half, as Kingsley Armah worked a ball down the right side on a counter attack, chipping a ball to the running Hermosillo, who finished to the top right corner for the lead.
C of I peppered the goal over the final 30 minutes – as a
Darion Green header off a corner kick in the 61st minute was cleared off the goal line by a WPC back; Fuller was stopped from 10-yards out on a 74th minute blast by Thomason; while in the 86th minute, a Coyote flurry saw
Ben Bechor elude a charging Thomason, but his 15-yard left footer to a wide open net was headed away by the Knights, while off the ensuing corner, Bechor clanged a header off the cross bar and a Green follow missed just high.
Thomason finished with six saves to earn the win for the Knights, as WPC had a 25-17 edge in total shots.
The Yotes close out the regular season next weekend with road matches at Northwest and Evergreen.
