HRV Girls Soccer downs Gresham and St. Helens

“It was really exciting. We knew they had a solid striker up front, number three [Skyla Hansen]. I don’t think she scored any of the goals, but she was a dangerous player, and we anticipated that. Hats off to them for stepping up their intensity in the second half. They went hard to the ball and fought their way back into the game,” Haspela said. “I’m really happy with how we finished and bounced back. It’s 2-2 [in the second half]. We’ve got 10 minutes. We want to score. I felt like the girls continued to try to play our game, kept the winning balls, and then passing through the midfield and moving bodies up the field together as a team.”

HRV got going fairly quickly in the first half, as near the 27-minute mark, Jennica Rigert put HRV up 1-0 when she used her chest to knock the ball in the goal off a perfectly placed corner kick from Josie Faaborg.

Toward the end of the half, Lily Clermont broke away from the Gresham defense for a goal to make it 2-0 near the six-minute mark.

Gresham got going in the second half as Reese Heffler scored a goal at the 21-minute mark to make it 2-1, and Aliyah Harris shortly followed up with another goal for Gresham at the 16-minute mark to tie the game up at 2-2.

HRV goalkeeper Valeria Miramontes-Alvarez fought off some late goal pressure with a save near the seven-minute mark, and Josie Faaborg quickly followed up with a goal that helped seal the victory for the Eagles with under six minutes to go.

The Gophers applied pressure in the last five minutes, but HRV held on to win 3-2.

Then, the Eagles got a win on the road against the St. Helens Lions on Thursday.

“We played a good game with five different players scoring goals. Seniors Yareli Hernandez and Magnolia Clermont each scored twice. Freshman Tabor Henry, sophomores Cate Haspela and Josie Faaborg also scored. The final goal was an own goal, and mercy rule ended the game in the 67th minute,” Haspela told Columbia Gorge News after the St. Helens game on Thursday. “The St Helen’s team occupied a lot of space in the midfield and in the box, so we needed to focus on attacking the wing space. The girls then led to some excellent passing combinations and nice goals. Good to earn a resounding win after a string of close matches. Now we have a week before an important league match at Putnam.”

5A Northwest Oregon Conference play starts for the Eagles next week on the road against the Putnam Kingsmen (2-2-1) on Sept. 25. and at home against the Wilsonville Wildcats (5-1) on Sept. 30.