The Hood River boys soccer squad after their heartbreaking loss to conference foe, La Salle Prep Falcons. The Eagles forced overtime and penalty kicks.
The Hood River boys soccer squad after their heartbreaking loss to conference foe, La Salle Prep Falcons. The Eagles forced overtime and penalty kicks.
HOOD RIVER — La Salle Prep beat Hood River Valley (HRV) 4-2 in a penalty kick shootout Nov. 9, eliminating the Eagles from the quarterfinals of the 2024 Class 5A boys state soccer playoffs and ending their season.
The two teams played to a 2-2 tie in regulation and through two 10-minute overtime periods. They were tied 2-2 in penalty kicks before Coach Alvaro Lara’s Eagles (9-4-4) had their third kick blocked and their fourth sail high over the goal. La Salle converted on each of its four PK attempts for a 3-2 playoff win.
Hood River, which lost in last year’s 5A championship game, 1-0, to Summit of Bend, was led by senior Julian Lara, who scored a goal and assisted on another by senior Andro Mendez.
The Falcons scored first, with 15 minutes left in the first half. A Falcon free kick from near midfield was angled to the left where it came down about 20 yards from the Eagle goal. The ball was redirected back to the right by a La Salle header where Luke Herrera had anticipated things nicely. He got a step on the HRV defense, ran onto the ball and hit a low, hard shot to the left of the oncoming HRV keeper.
Lara countered for HRV with 27 minutes on the clock in the second half. Aran Garcia’s throw-in from the right sideline was redirected by Mendez toward a teammate, who redirected it again to the left center of the field, where Lara calmly ran onto the pass and one-touched it into the back left side of the goal.
La Salle went ahead again on a Nate Orozco header off a corner kick with 22 minutes remaining. Once again, HRV responded, this time about 10 minutes later. La Salle failed to clear a long through-ball as a Falcon header attempt to do so went to the right side where Lara was lingering about 25 yards out. He booted a low pass which got through a couple of defenders to an onrushing Mendez. He one-touched the ball but didn’t get it cleanly. He kept with the play, ran onto the ball again and high stepped it past the La Salle goalie to tie the match at 2-2.
HRV had beaten La Salle Prep, 3-0, on Oct. 9, when they played a Northwest Oregon Conference (NWOC)match. The Eagles were 4-0-2 since, including a 4-0 shutout win over McKay High of Salem in the first round of the 5A playoffs. La Salle, which advanced to the state semifinals and a Nov. 12 match against NWOC member Wilsonville, went on a six-game win streak since losing to HRV.
Against McKay (7-8), in the comfortable confines of Henderson Stadium, Hood River looked the part of a state championship contender. The Eagles, the 5A state champion in 2014 and 2015, finished the year ranked seventh and have qualified for the postseason 22 of the past 24 seasons. Hood River was strong against the Royal Scots, as Mendez, Oscar Moline, Sebastian Clarkson and Javier Lopez scored goals and HRV advanced to the quarterfinals.
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