Hood River Valley High School’s varsity boys soccer team visited and defeated Redmond High School 6-2 Thursday. This win gives the Eagle squad a 7-1 record.
Jaime Rivera, head coach for the Eagles, said the team is chugging along at full steam but still has some minor adjustments to make.
“We’re looking to continue our momentum in league as far as the standings. We go (to Redmond) obviously trying to get a win and continue the same objectives that we’ve been working on: Playing solid defense,” said Rivera. “We wanted to come out with a win and a shut out but we didn’t get that. We’re happy about the win but we feel like we fell short a little bit with our defensive game.”
Eagles who scored included defender Robert Rowan, midfielder Emiliano Pedroza, forwards Jonathan Moreno and Fabian Magaña with a hat-trick.
Four goals were made by the Eagles before the Panthers answered back. The Panthers scored in a counter attack and in a free-kick within five minutes. Rivera said clear communication could have prevented those goals.
“Sometimes our goalkeeper and our defenders don’t communicate the best and so things can slip in because of the miscommunication,” said Rivera. “For example, if it’s 50/50 ball where both the defender and the goalkeeper can both have a good opportunity to either clear it away or for the goalkeeper to come out and make the save, sometimes there’s miscommunication there.”
Despite their slip-ups, Rivera said the team was able to adapt and adjust their game before the match ended.
“This is what I’m proud of; when we get in a panic, we could have just killed ourselves going too direct and not necessarily creating the space that’s needed to score goals,” said Rivera. “So, we kept passing the ball, getting the ball wide, we had our wingers sending in crosses and so we did those things. The guys stuck to that game plan and I’m happy we scored two more goals before time had expired.”
Playing through the pressure is what’s valuable about the team, said Rivera.
Looking ahead towards the end of the season, Rivera said he feels confident they’ll make the playoffs.
“Right now, we’re tied with Ridgeview. But I feel good about the chances of getting in. It’s just we just can’t focus on anything else but ourselves,” said Rivera. “We don’t control what happens at Ridgeview. We don’t control what happens at The Dalles. We just have to take care of business on our end.”
HRV will face Pendleton High School in an away game today at 4:30 p.m.
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