WHITE SALMON — After another week of Trico play, the Columbia Bruins boys soccer team remains undefeated. Injuries to the defense have challenged head coach Gio Magana-Rivera to field a squad ready for competitive play. Center backs Alex Baldwin and Damian Sanchez have continued to be unavailable due to injuries.
On April 14, CHS made the trip to Vancouver to take on the undefeated King’s Way Knights (8-1-2 overall, 6-1-2 Trico). The game proved to be fast and physical with neither team able to find an edge until senior midfielder Ulices Huerta was fouled outside the box and curled the ensuing free kick over the wall and past the Knights’ goalkeeper.
That would be the only goal of the first half.
The second half started as Columbia’s midfield started linking passes which eventually led to a nice combination between juniors Matt Miller and Mathew Carrillo and Huerta. The buildup led to Huerta finding Isaac Reynoso, who skillfully placed the ball past the goalkeeper and put the Bruins up 2-0.
The game was looking in hand for the Bruins until center back Cole Wooding went down with an injury, which shifted Miller from midfield to defense. For the last 20 minutes of the game, King’s Way pressed CHS. Tired legs, a failure to track back on defense and the Bruins inability to clear the ball led to two goals from the Knight’s Rylan Richter. The game ended in a 2-2 tie.
On April 18 the Bruins faced a much-improved Stevenson Bulldog team. Bruin sophomore Pablo Santos Secaida scored the opener for Columbia, but the Bulldogs quickly found an equalizer on a blast from Wilhem Klier. Nguyen Lee and the rest of the Stevenson team fought hard for the rest of the half but shortly before the referee blew his whistle to end the period, Benson Zendt scored the first of his two goals. In the second half, Isaac Reynoso was able to find the back of the net and Mathew Carrillo tallied the fifth and final goal for a 5-1 Bruin win.
The Bruins are now 6-0-2 overall and head into a three-game week playing April 21 in Onalaska and will host both the Fort Vancouver Trappers on April 22 and undefeated Seton Catholic Cougars on April 25. Kickoff for both home games is 6 p.m.
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