MESA, Ariz. --- The Park University Gilbert women's soccer team (1-1-0) suffered its first loss of the 2025 regular season at the hands of the Oregon Tech Owls (2-0-0), Thursday evening at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
After starting the year with a dominant 7-0 victory over Justice University last Friday, the Buccaneers fell by a score of 5-1 Thursday evening. Park-Gilbert now moves to 1-2 all-time against the Owls, as these two teams have met in each of the last three seasons.
Oregon Tech jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, after a pair of goals in the 7th and 9th minutes of play. Roughly 10 minutes later, sophomore defender Bekah Sipinga put the Bucs on the board and cut OIT's lead in half. This score came off an assist from sophomore forward Mikenzie Kulish, following a corner kick from senior defender Marissa Pond.
At the halftime break, the Bucs made a goalkeeping change. Like last Friday's game against Justice, sophomore Journey Morimoto started the first half and senior Morgan Trail started the second half. Trail picked up four saves in the final 45 minutes of this contest.
Park-Gilbert allowed three goals in the second half, one of which being an own goal near the 89th minute. OIT's other two scores came in the 57th and 73rd minutes. A second-half header from senior defender Alicia Ypina reached the back of the net, but officials called the goal off due to Park being offside.
The Buccaneers took eight shots against Oregon Tech, a steep drop from their 37 shots against Justice last Friday. The Owls totaled 15 shots in this contest.
Park-Gilbert will have a quick turnaround this weekend as they host the Nelson University Arizona Warriors (0-1-0) this Saturday at 6:00 p.m. MST at Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
