ASHLAND, Ore. – A 2-0 loss to one of the NAIA's best defensive teams officially eliminated the University of Providence men's soccer team from contending for a spot in the Cascade Collegiate Conference playoffs. UP didn't necessarily need to win or tie to stay in the race, but it did need Carroll College, Eastern Oregon University and the College of Idaho all to lose, and the College of Idaho earned a 3-2 OT win to put the final nail in the Argo's coffin.
 
Making the CCC playoffs was going to be an uphill battle for UP heading into the final weekend of regular season play. Not only would the team need help from other teams to qualify but Southern Oregon was a particularly daunting opponent. The Raiders entered the game with an NAIA leading 9 shutouts on the year and only 3 goals allowed in all of conference play.
 
That stingy defense successfully stymied every Argo player but one. Junior midfielder Adrian Gomez was that one player. The Spaniard accounted for 5 of the Argo's 8 shots in the game, and 3 of the team's 4 shots on goal.
 
Early on, Gomez's efforts had UP being the early aggressor. The first legitimate scoring threat of the contest was an Argo corner kick taken by Gomez in the third minute. That benign effort was successfully cleared by SOU without allowing a shot but seven minutes later, Gomez got the game's first shot on goal.
 
The Raiders answered back with two shots on goal in quick succession in the 14th minute and then in the 16th minute, the first goal was scored. Southern Oregon took a 1-0 lead with a shot by Esteban Castaneda from nine yards out.
 
UP didn't get another shot off until the 37th minute when a free kick from senior center back Rasmus Madsen was saved by the Raider's goalkeeper. Midfielder Alex Williams got off another shot five minutes later but it was blocked by an SOU defender.
 
In the second half, SOU got off 6 shots to UP's 2 in the first 30 minutes of play, but one of those two Argo shots was another shot on goal from Gomez.
 
As the Argos continued to try and press for an equalizer against a defense that rarely makes a mistake, Southern Oregon earned a corner kick in the 76th minute. The ensuing cross found the head of Zac Hansen who put the ball in the back of the net to make the score 2-0.
 
With 15 minutes left, a 2-0 deficit against SOU defense proved to be an insurmountable obstacle. In that span of time, Gomez took 1 corner kick and got off 3 shots including another shot on goal, while no other Argo player took a shot.
 
There is one more day of games left in CCC regular season play and so far, seven of the eight playoff spots have been officially claimed. The eighth and final spot is currently held by COI with 18 points, and while the Argos could also get to 18 points with a win against Oregon Tech on Saturday, October 28, the team would lose any tiebreaker scenario.
 
UP could end up in a two-team tie with COI, but would lose the head-to-head tiebreaker having lost to the Yotes in the regular season, or could be tied with both COI and Carroll College, but again the head-to-head would boot out UP who also lost to Carroll.