SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Cassidy Hammons and Brittany Girolami each tallied free-kick goals and the Carroll defense shutout Southern Oregon to help the Saints earn a 2-0 win Thursday afternoon and advance to Cascade Conference Championship match Saturday.
 
The Saints got on the board early with a free-kick goal from Cassidy Hammons. It was nearly the exact situation, in nearly the exact point in the game from nearly the exact spot on the field, 35-yards out, as an early goal in the quarterfinal match. In both cases she capitalized to give her team a 1-0 lead in the 8th minute of the match.
 
The entire rest of the match was a defensive struggle. The early goal allowed the Saints to settle into their defense and prevent SOU from getting into an offensive rhythm.
 
Southern Oregon did have opportunities They tallied two shots in the final ten minutes of the first half both made head coach Dave Thorvilson squirm a little in his seat.
 
"We did a great job at limiting what they had offensively but they did have a couple of really good scoring opportunities," Thorvilson said. "One went just off the post and the other Jaimie (Carter) made a great, fingertip save to keep the shutout alive."
 
Carroll went into the half with a 1-0 lead and only allowed the Raiders three shots before the half.
 
Southern Oregon turned up the pressure in the second half with seven shots, three of which were on goal but Carter held on for her ninth shutout of the year, the 11th for the Saints as a team.
 
The Saints added some late insurance with a 25-yard free kick From Girolami in the 83rd minute. She drove the ball far post to earn her first goal of the season.
 
"Before she too the kick I told her to strike it hard and follow hoping she would be there for a rebound," Thorvilson said. "She just took care of it on the first kick. It was a great way to take pressure off for the final few minutes."
 
Southern Oregon made one more attempt at the goal but Carter, the Cascade Defensive MVP, was up to the task and held on the to shutout.
 
The Saints now move on the championship match Saturday against Eastern Oregon. In the regular-season matchup, Saints and Mounties battled for a 103 minutes before the Saints scored a double-OT goal to earn a 2-1 win. EOU's potent offense is 12th in the nation for total goals at 61.
 
"They are a very strong team, offensively they have two very good forwards and defensively they are very capable of pulling shutout," Thovilson said. "They won 4-0 tonight so they look like they are playing their best soccer of the year. They also will probably have a chip on their shoulder, we handed them their first loss on the season on their home field which can't sit well with them."
 
EOU joins the Saints in clinching a bid to the post season. Carroll earned the first of two Cascade automatic bids with the regular season championship and, having advanced to the final, leaves the other auto-bid to the Mounties. Thorvilson is excited to see the way his team has performed despite having their spot locked up.
 
"Their mindset has been very impressive," Thorvilson said. "We could have looked for excuses like playing timid to stay healthy, but our girls have really played well. It says a lot about the character of this team and the way they approach the game."
 
The match is slated for Saturday with a rest day Friday. The two championship teams, as well as the Carrol men's team, will spend a few hours Friday working with Special Olympics of Oregon.
 
"The girls are really excited to have an opportunity to do some good and thank the people in this area for hosting our tournament," Thorvilson said. "This will be a great opportunity to use our position as a team to help those in need."
 
Carroll and Eastern Oregon meet at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Willamlane Soccer Complex for the title match.