Hood River boys lose to Wilsonville soccer, 4-2

Hood River started this week in a four-way tie for fifth place in the conference standings and the state playoffs looming in two weeks. The Eagles were schedule to play at Parkrose on Monday (result was after the printed edition deadline) and at Milwaukie on Oct. 19. HRV finishes its regular season at home Oct. 25 against Hillsboro and Oct. 27 vs. Putnam.

Fourteen teams, including four from the nine-team NWOC, automatically qualify for the OSAA’s 16-team Class 5A bracket. Two additional 5A teams will qualify based on the OSAA rankings. If Hood River wins out, the Eagles could conceivably earn a playoff spot, either by moving into fourth place or earning an at-large berth based on their ranking.

HRV, with teacher and former long-time Eagle girls coach Kevin Haspela acting as the boys coach, gave Wilsonville all it could handle last week on the Henderson Stadium turf by overcoming a 3-0 first-half deficit. Coach Jaime Rivera was not on the sideline, apparently stemming from the aftermath of a letter from approximately 30 parents detailing numerous allegations regarding the long-time coach (see related story online and in print.)

Neither HRV Athletic Director Trent Kroll nor Rivera would comment on the letter. The Eagle players did their talking on the field, though some of it earned at least one player a yellow card. That aside, HRV (2-7-1 overall, 1-3 NWOC through Oct. 16), which was seeking its first-ever NWOC home win, was competitive throughout the evening against the Wildcats (6-5, 3-2).

Wilsonville’s NWOC losses were 2-1 to fourth-ranked La Salle and 4-2 to eighth-ranked Parkrose. The Wildcats reasserted themselves after the second HRV goal by getting a converted header to make the score complete with about 19 minutes to play. Hood River didn’t help its cause by having to play a player down for most of that time because of a red card.

Hood River did make things interesting in the second half. Trailing 3-0, the Eagles started beating Wilsonville to the 50-50 balls which created some scoring opportunities. In fairness to the Wildcats, they had at three point-blank misses (within 15 yards) in the second half.

Hood River pulled within 3-1 six minutes into the half on defender Orlando “Danny” Villafana’s goal. Edgar Lachino won a corner kick when his crossing pass attempt from the right was deflected out of play. Villafana, who had come up to take care of any clean-up on the ensuing corner kick, did just that.

The Aran Garcia corner was originally cleared by a Wilsonville header, but the ball never got out of the danger zone of the active Eagle players. After a few kicks and deflections, the ball bounced into an open space about 18 yards out, slightly to the left of the goal. Villafana sprinted forward a few yards, controlled the ball under pressure and slid it a few feet left to provide himself a little space. His left-footed shot slid low past the Wilsonville goalie and into the right corner.

Hood River wasn’t done. The Eagles pulled within a goal on a series of slick passing with about 28 minutes remaining. Jordan McDoal dinked a pass over a Wilsonville defender about 45 yards out on the right side. Sophomore Garcia got the ball in the air with a no-look, back-flick kick from near the right sideline about 35 yards out. Senior Dameon Solorzano angled from the middle to the right, chested the Garcia pass down, and one-touched a cross that went parallel at about the 20.

Garcia, who had followed up on the play by angling toward the middle of the field, one-touched the ball low to the left middle about 15 yard out from the goal. Felipe “Andro” Mendez controlled the ball under pressure with his left foot, dribbled once forward to about the penalty kick mark and drilled a right-footed shot past the splayed, airborne Wilsonville goalie.

Wilsonville countered nine minutes later on a header off a crossing pass to push the margin back to two goals. Solorzano almost answered a minute after that for Hood River as he chased down a Lachino through-ball. But the senior couldn’t convert, as the Wildcat goalie came out hard on the play to smother the ball a few yards away from where it had bounced off his chest. The Eagles played a man down the final 18 minutes.