Third-ranked Hood River Valley handed Gorge rival The Dalles its first boys soccer loss of the season, 2-1, on Sept. 9 at the Wahtonka campus field.
The Dalles High and Hood River Valley played two Class 5A Intermountain Conference games last year that ended in ties (3-3, 2-2). In the past eight matches between the two teams, four have ended in ties and the other four have been split. Hood River had not beaten The Dalles since 2019.
Even though it was a nonleague contest because both teams are in different OSAA classifications, it was considered as one of the biggest games of the year for both squads. HRV (1-0-1) wanted to get its first win following a 2-2 tie with Gresham in its season opener Aug. 31. The No. 13 ranked Class 4A Riverhawks (3-1) were seeking a fourth straight victory.
The Riverhawks were playing their first game without leading scorer Hulises Najera (10 goals), who suffered a right knee injury in a 5-2 home win over the Corbett High Cardinals (2-2) Sept. 6. Najera attended the game and was walking with crutches.
The Riverhawks, guided by second-year Coach Jesus Granados, played as well as could be expected.
“Hulises will have an MRI soon and then that will determine how serious the injury actually is,” said Granados. “The boys came out here and they rose to the occasion and adjusted to the situation without our top scorer. They played with a high level of good team chemistry, and we had a very good performance against Hood River. We’ve been working hard to improve defensively, because we had three seniors from our defense that we lost to graduation last spring. We have two freshmen starting on defense with Sam Pille and Angel Morales and they’re both doing a good job.”
The Eagles, guided by 13th-year Coach Jaime Rivera, grabbed the early momentum when senior midfielder Kiernan Chown scored a goal in the 15th minute for a 1-0 advantage. It was the first goal scored this year by Chown.
“They (Riverhawks) were competitive, despite missing their key player and they gave us a good fight and kudos to them,” said Rivera. “It’s another game that helps us get prepared for our season. You have to come out here and try to win a game against your rival. I have a lot of respect for their Coach Jesus, because he’s a former Hood River Valley Eagle player.
“It’s a good game for us to get in each year now that we’re not in the same league. It’s going to be fun to play them each year. I think we’re going to do well in our new league (Northwest Oregon Conference), but it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be like a playoff game every night because we’ll play a quality team in every game. I think we’ll be one of the top three or four teams in the league.”
The Riverhawks fought back, as senior forward Kenny Martinez scored with 48 seconds left in the half.
“It was nice that we were able to tie the game at that point, but we could’ve played a lot better,” said Martinez, who has scored two goals in his first year on the Riverhawks’ soccer team. “If we could’ve played better defense, that would’ve helped us a lot. We definitely saw a lot of offensive pressure from Hood River.
“We can bounce back, and we’ll definitely do that when we play our next game. If Hulises was out here, it would’ve been a whole different ball game. We’re all wishing him to have a speedy recovery for sure.”
Hood River had numerous scoring opportunities throughout the contest, including solid shots in the second half that were close misses or the ball was grabbed by Riverhawk junior goalkeeper Luciano Alvarado (five saves).
“Luciano and all the guys rose to the occasion, but unfortunately, we just didn’t get a tie or a win,” said Granados. “Luciano played very well, and he had lots of key saves.”
Eagle senior midfielder and team captain Dameon Solorzano almost scored on a header shot early in the second half. “We played good in the first 20 minutes, but then in the remaining 60 minutes, we kind of slacked off a little bit and we could’ve played better,” said Solorzano, who had an assist. “We just weren’t playing the way we should’ve, but we got the outcome we wanted, and I’ll take it. I have a lot for respect for Hulises and it’s too bad he’s injured.
“We’ll keep working hard at practice and just put in all the effort we can to prepare for our next game and that’s all we can do.”
The Dalles outshot Hood River, 12-10. The Eagle defense of Carlos Linares, Omar Mozqueda, Ceasar Guardado, Israel Valle, Orlando Villafana, Eduardo Cortes, and Eric Chamonica played tough.
The Eagles extended their lead to 2-1 in the 56th minute when sophomore forward Aran Garcia booted a shot into the net from 10 yards out on the left side of the goal past Alvarado. The Dalles had two potential game-tying scoring chances over the next 15 minutes on corner kicks, and two more from sophomore midfielder Julian Lara. Both of Lara’s attempts were saved by Judah Caudill (six saves).
“It’s kind of tough at the moment playing without Hulises,” said junior forward Oswaldo Heredia Vargas, who delivered one of the threatening corner kicks for The Dalles. “We could’ve done better, but we were without one of our best players. In my opinion, I thought that we played a great game, and we tried our best. We played hard all the way to the end and that’s all that matters. Hood River is always a tough team to beat.”
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