Woodburn stymies HRV in boys soccer playoffs

All those positives still didn’t add up to a victory.

The Eagles (10-2-3) suffered a 2-0 loss to the No. 10-ranked Woodburn Bulldogs (9-6) in an OSAA/Class 5A first-round state playoff game Nov. 3 at Hood River Valley High’s Henderson Community Stadium.

The Eagles, guided by 12th-year Coach Jaime Rivera, had three shots on goal. The Woodburn back line defenders of Noe Gonzalez, Jairo Perez, Luis Garza, Abisai Cordero and goalkeeper Jonathan Lopez Sandoval repeatedly thwarted offensive attacks into the goal area by the Eagles.

“For some of us, it will really take a day or two in order to have a full perspective of everything,” said Rivera. “We knew we could hang with Woodburn. Unfortunately, they would have some plays where they would get a shot and then we don’t react fast enough to get to the ball and that killed us. They bottled us up and they did a good job of marking our forwards. They didn’t allow us to make any good passes to our forwards, and they played really good at midfield. It was really hard for us to get anything good going offensively at midfield. This wasn’t one of our better games.”

The Eagles had goal-scoring opportunities, but they were few and far between. The Bulldogs had the advantage in time of possession offensively as they were marching into the Eagle territory often, while utilizing a highly effective offensive attack and creating numerous scoring chances.

HRV’s best chance to score in the first half was in the seventh minute after a Bulldog foul. Eagle sophomore forward Edgar Lachino booted a free kick, sending a ball into the goal area. It turned out like many other potential scoring chances, with the ball being controlled by the Bulldog defenders and then cleared to midfield.

HRV senior midfielder Cody Cornejo had a solid shot in the 29th minute that was saved by Lopez Sandoval.

“We came in here thinking that we would dominate in the same way that we’ve done against every other team this year,” said Cornejo, who scored five goals this season. “Those guys (Bulldogs) came out fighting, they played well, and they wanted it a little bit more than us unfortunately, so it was a tough game. I’m really happy with the season and although it didn’t turn out the way we wanted, it was a great season and we had lots of fun. Their keeper was solid, their back line played great, and they displayed very good team chemistry.”

Woodburn, which advanced to the Nov. 6 quarterfinals and lost 4-1 to the No. 2-ranked Willamette Wolverines (15-1), caught a break for its first goal. In the 31st minute, a Woodburn shot was stopped by Eagle senior goalkeeper Hugh Dalbey (eight saves), but then the ball slipped out of his hands and a Bulldog player controlled it on the rebound and booted it into the goal for a 1-0 lead.

“It was definitely a tough loss, but we played with everything we had, and it was a good game,” said Dalbey. “We were expecting to have a pretty good match with them. It was definitely a surprise to see them coming out and playing so aggressively and we matched that, as well. They just got some lucky goals to come out on top. I had a mistake on the first goal and the ball slipped out of my hands and they got an easy goal, which was unfortunate.

“The season was so much fun, and this group is definitely the best that I’ve ever played with and I’ve certainly had a blast playing with them.”

The Eagles, down 1-0 at halftime, had several chances to tie the game in the second half with solid shots on goal by senior Hunter Hough, Lachino and junior Danny Villafana.

“Oh man, it was a fun game, but it was definitely a big disappointment,” said Hough. “We left our hearts out there and we gave it everything we could, but it just wasn’t enough in the end. Before the game, we definitely felt like we had a good chance to win. Things just didn’t turn out in our favor though. We definitely felt like we had a sense of urgency towards the end of the game. We were hoping to score, and we had some chances.

“We did have a great season, which was even better than last year, and we won the conference championship (IMC), so that was a huge improvement.”

Without their leading scorers Jaden Dubon (international duty) and Milo Clarkson (illness), the Eagles have relied upon Lachino recently to help lead the offense and he nearly scored on a header in the 47th minute. Hough had a good shot in the 73rd minute that was saved by Lopez Sandoval to help preserve the 1-0 Bulldog advantage.

Villafana had an excellent scoring opportunity in the 75th minute that was again stopped by the rock-solid Bulldog defense. Woodburn scored a goal with four minutes left.

HRV advanced to the playoffs for the 11th year in a row; the loss snapped the Eagles’ 10-game unbeaten streak.

“We have lots of sophomores, so we’re going to have another really good team coming back next year,” Rivera said.

The contest marked the final game of the high school soccer careers of Eagle seniors Dalbey, Riley Dierker, Clarkson, Geoffrey Shoaf, Genaro Martinez, Javier Castillo, Cornejo, and Hough.

“These guys were really dedicated to our program for four years and during our team meeting after the game, they all felt the same way about their career and they said that it went by way too fast,” said Rivera. “They all said they felt like brothers because of the close friendships with their teammates. Nobody said anything about losing or feeling down and they’re just happy to participate in team sports like this.

“They’re just a class act and they’re a really solid group of guys. They’ve laid a great foundation and we’re going to miss them.”