CHS boys soccer team shuts out Seton Catholic

Going into the game, Coach Gio Magaña-Rivera said he and his coaching staff “told the guys to focus on the fundamentals of soccer: work hard, play with passion, and go out there and play hard for your community.”

The first half of the back-and-forth match included chances on goal for both teams.

“We, as a coaching staff, noticed that our boys were losing the ball in the center of the field, so to start the second half we made some adjustments in the midfield,” Magaña-Rivera said. “The idea was still the same — win your 50-50 battles and compete. We outworked Seton in the second half and kept them to maybe one shot on goal the whole second half where we created a great number of clear chances.”

The midfield changes paid off after intermission. Matt Miller was taken down on a dribble just outside of the penalty box for a direct kick that Angel Cortes converted for the game’s first score. A few minutes later, Uli Huerta lobbed a kick forward that Damian Sanchez was able to head to the feet of Luke Miller, who slotted the ball past Seton’s goalkeeper to make the score 2-0.

Seton Catholic responded by pressing forward but the Columbia defense held firm and kept the Cougars from scoring.

“I want to give a huge shout out to our goalkeeper, Alfonso Serrato, who for the past week worked on his aerial game,” Magaña-Rivera said. “He was crucial in the game coming out for balls and punching them out and managed to keep a clean sheet against a top team like Seton Catholic. Overall, it was a great team performance where every single one of our players contributed to this win.”

The Columbia boys (7-1 league, 9-2 overall) entered the week ranked No. 7 in state (WIAA’s RPI 1A) and play their final regular season home game (also senior appreciation night) on April 30 at 6 p.m. in White Salmon against Kings Way (6-3 league, 7-4 overall).