HOOD RIVER - The Hood River Valley boys soccer team enjoyed a great amount of success last season and is hoping to have a repeat performance during its 2026 OSAA Class 5A schedule.
The Eagles (7-7-2 in 2025), guided by fourth-year Coach Alvaro Lara, took third place in the Northwest Oregon Conference with a 5-2-1 record and they advanced to the 5A state playoffs for a third straight year. The Eagles earned a No. 10 OSAA ranking and faced the No. 8 ranked Silverton High Foxes (8-3-6) in a first-round playoff game. HRV lost 2-1 to Silverton.
“Our ultimate goal every year is to go to the playoffs and be a state title contender and hopefully perform as best as we can,” said Lara. “I’m excited about the season and we had a record number of kids at tryouts this year with 122. It’s great for the future of HRV’s boys soccer program … we’ll have four teams playing this year on the freshman, junior varsity and varsity level.”
The Eagles lost nine graduated seniors from a year ago but have 10 seniors on this year’s roster. Three Eagle captains who will lead the team are Moises Vega, Ben Tama and Santiago Flores. The Eagle trio of Martin Basurto, Chris Nunez and Hugo Perez will alternate the goalkeeper position on defense.
“We absolutely expect to have our seniors provide leadership on and off the field and they always play a key role in our success,” said Lara.
HRV finished behind the defending state champion La Salle Prep High Falcons (6-0-2 NWOC, 15-1-3 overall) in the nine-team NWOC standings last year. The No. 2-ranked Centennial High Eagles (7-0-1 NWOC, 13-3-1 overall) won the league title.
The eight-team league underwent significant changes as La Salle, Canby, Wilsonville (8-3-4 overall) and Hillsboro (4-10) moved into the Greater Metro Conference. The Sandy High Pioneers (4-6-4 in 2025) moved down from Class 6A and joined the NWOC along with the St. Helens High Lions (up from 4A).
The Eagles opened their 15-game schedule with a nonleague season opening, 4-1, loss Aug. 27 to Lincoln (12-4-2) of the Class 6A Portland Interscholastic League. Tama scored the lone HRV goal by beating his defending and running onto a second-half, 30-yard free kick from Owen Dell just inside the far post.
The Eagles will play their next home game, Sept. 3 vs. Mountain View (2-10-3 in 2025). The Eagles’ first contest of their six-game NWOC schedule is Oct. 7 at home versus the Parkrose High Broncos (2-5-1 NWOC, 2-10-2 in 2025).
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