Freshman Leyton Adams (7) braces for contact while trying to advance the ball upfield against the Liberty Falcons earlier this year. The Eagles’ season ended in the state playoffs to West Salem.
Freshman Leyton Adams (7) braces for contact while trying to advance the ball upfield against the Liberty Falcons earlier this year. The Eagles’ season ended in the state playoffs to West Salem.
Noah Notetboom photos/file
Junior Finn Spence (24) attacks the Liberty defense earlier this season.
The Hood River Valley High Eagles boys lacrosse team enjoyed a successful season by advancing to the Oregon High School Lacrosse Association (OHSLA) state playoffs in May.
The Eagles had momentum with four wins in their final six regular season games going into a road playoff contest versus the North Valley Conference Champion West Salem High Titans (6-0 league, 17-4 overall). The Eagles (4-5 league, 7-10 overall) played tough before losing a close contest, 12-10, May 18 at West Salem High School to conclude their season.
The contest marked the final game of the Hood River Valley High School lacrosse careers of 2023 graduated seniors Michael Frost, Ethan Zack, and junior Camden Moody.
The Eagles took third place in the six-team Columbia Conference standings behind the second place Lincoln High Cardinals (6-3 league, 12-7 overall) and the league champion Grant High Generals (8-0 league, 18-5 overall).
Hood River, guided by seventh year Coach Michael FitzSimons, had 11 players selected by league coaches for all conference awards. Zack won a first team all-conference defense award; Frost won a first team all-conference midfielder award. Moody, who was the Eagles’ leading scorer, won a first team all-conference attacker award. Zack, Frost and Moody were the Eagle team captains. Frost was also selected to play in the OHSLA All-Star game June 3 at Canby High School.
“Zack and Frost were my COVID seniors and so they didn’t get to play in their freshman season,” said FitzSimons. “I’m going to miss those two guys for sure and we’ll definitely have some big shoes to fill. We had a good group of freshmen though who were actually starting on the varsity squad, so that’s always good for the future of our team. I expect us to have a state playoff team again next year.”
Finn Spence (M/FOS), junior attacker Milo Kitchings, junior midfielder Aiden Edholm, and junior goalie Killian DeHaven each earned Columbia Conference second team awards for HRV.
Hood River juniors Walker Dunn (defense), Ben Bauman (defense), Aksel Kitt (LSM), and sophomore midfielder Ethan Shepperd each received Columbia Conference honorable mention awards.
Lacrosse isn’t an OSAA-sanctioned sport, but FitzSimons is hoping that that will soon change. “We thought that we would get sanctioned by the OSAA in 2019, but then when COVID hit, it kind of delayed that process,” said FitzSimons. “It was about to happen, but then we lost teams because of COVID, which was a real setback. You have to have a certain number of teams to get sanctioned by the OSAA. We’re close to getting that and maybe it will happen in the near future.”
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