Jaime Frias (20) is greeted by Diego Rueda, Gio Magana, Mario Sandoval, Johnny Villafana and Aldo Muro after scoring his second goal Thursday vs. Summit.
Jaime Frias (20) is greeted by Diego Rueda, Gio Magana, Mario Sandoval, Johnny Villafana and Aldo Muro after scoring his second goal Thursday vs. Summit.
In an energetic battle between the state’s top two ranked teams, senior forward Jaime Frias made a speedy run up the center of the field, took a perfect through-ball from midfielder Diego Rueda, outran two defenders in chase and made a quick dribble around a charging Summit goalie for an open shot at the net.
The second-half goal, Frias’s second of the day, effectively sealed the win for the Hood River Valley High School varsity boys soccer team, who hosted Summit Thursday in a rematch of last season’s state championships in which Summit claimed the title with a 2-0 victory.
With the 2-1 win, and a commanding 6-1 win Tuesday over McLoughlin, HRV improves its record to 7-0 and upholds its 5A No. 1 ranking as the team heads into Columbia River Conference Action set to start Sept. 30 at home against Pendleton.
“I was feeling kind of nervous going into this game,” Frias said. “I have been waiting for this game since last year, so it was pretty exciting.”
Frias is one of an impressive 11 seniors on the lineup this year, most of whom return with the invaluable experience of playing through last season’s state championship bracket and making it to the state finals for the first time in team history.
“I feel like we’ve got this; this is our year,” Frias said. “It’s my senior year, so I’m going to give it everything I’ve got; play hard to the last moment.”
Coach Jaime Rivera breathed a sigh of relief as the referee signaled the end of the game, which intensified physically and emotionally in the final minutes after Summit got on the board with a goal with about ten minutes remaining.
“Yeah, I would have liked it to be 2-0, or 3-1,” he said, “but we’ll take it. It’s definitely a big win for us.”
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