THE DALLES — The defending Tri-Valley Conference champion The Dalles High Riverhawks’ boys soccer team concluded its nonleague schedule with a 4-1 home win over the Astoria High Fishermen on Sept. 19.
The Riverhawks (4-1), guided by first-year head Coach Shudi Datta, led 3-0 at halftime versus the Fishermen. The Dalles capped the scoring in the final minute when freshman midfielder Angel Ciriano (two goals) scored on a 12-yard penalty shot for the final margin.
“It should seem like a nice win, but the game film will show otherwise,” said Datta. “We had to play much of the second half with one less player. We had one guy who was penalized and ejected from the game after getting a red card violation. We just simply had a lack of focus. We had two players who received yellow cards too after they supposedly said inappropriate things to the referee.”
The Riverhawks had a solid offensive performance early in the game, as they built a 3-0 halftime advantage.
“Our goal every year is to win the league title,” said Datta, who is hoping to lead the Riverhawks to the state playoffs for a fifth consecutive year. “It’s all going to depend on the mental aspect with the boys. They’re all highly skilled players, but they have to learn to control their emotions.”
Junior forward Julian Rodriguez (assist) and senior midfielder Junior Morales also scored first half goals. Rodriguez leads the Riverhawks with six goals. Senior goalkeeper Leonardo Casillas had six saves.
Rodriguez said: “It feels great to be our leading scorer, but I just need to score more often so that I can help our team out better. I should’ve had more than one goal, but that’s how it goes sometimes in soccer. Our goal is to just stay focused on playing well all season and we want to win the league title again and also make the state playoffs this year. I think we’re capable of going to the championship game. We’ve reached the quarterfinals and the semifinals in recent years, but we haven’t been to the finals yet.”
Datta said there’s a lot the team still needs to work on. “I guess I should say that I’m proud of the boys for playing so well at this point of the season. There’s so much talent on our team and a lot of these guys are capable playing in college, too.”
The Riverhawks will play their TVC season opening contest of the 10-game schedule Sept. 24 at home at 4:30 p.m. versus the No. 16-ranked Gladstone High Gladiators (2-2-1), a 2025 state playoff squad.
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