By Mike Weber
For Columbia Gorge News
WHITE SALMON — The Columbia High Bruins have some new faces among their team to start out their WIAA Class 1A girls soccer schedule and a first-year head coach who is a familiar face to the players.
The Bruins are guided this year by new head Coach Miguel Ramirez, a 2009 Columbia High graduate. Ramirez replaced former Coach Parker Walker, who resigned last year after two seasons as the Bruins’ head coach.
“It’s pretty cool to be the Bruins girls soccer coach and so far, everything is going great,” said Ramirez, who played on the 2009 Bruins boys soccer WIAA Class 1A state championship team. “I’ve been pretty active in the coaching environment while guiding youth level soccer teams in the local parks and recreational leagues. I’ve watched a lot of the younger kids grow and develop as players. So, it kind of pushed me to explore different options, because I wanted something a little more challenging. Luckily this opportunity came up for me to coach the team.”
The Bruins (1-0 league, 2-0 overall) displayed a highly potent offensive attack in their first two games, scoring 15 goals. The Bruins won 7-0 over the Toutle Lake High Ducks in a Sept. 8 non-league season opener at Toutle Lake High School. The Bruins then won 8-0 over the Castle Rock High Rockets (0-1) in their Trico League opener at home Sept. 10.
“Our first game was pretty intense at first and then we kind of figured things out throughout the game, which was pretty cool,” said Ramirez, in his first year ever coaching high school. “We work hard during practice and so that hard work kind of paid off for us the first two games. I know how it feels to win a state championship. I put myself into a situation where I hope to transmit the same type of winning culture that will help us become a very successful team. That kind of empowered me to take my coaching career to the next level.”
The trio of senior leading scorer Willow Cohen, sophomore Kayla Friberg and junior Sofia Vicente each scored goals to help lead the Bruin offense in the first two games. Senior goalkeeper Kiki Barkhimer was in the net for the first two shutout victories. The Bruins have leadership qualities from seniors Barkhimer, Willow Cohen and Melina Cohen.
“We have a very big team (24 players), which is kind of challenging at times because we have a lot of players that are wanting to play,” said Ramirez. “The home game against Castle Rock was good because we were winning by such a large margin and so everybody got some playing time. Finding playing time for everyone is a challenge for me. I’m going to try and give everyone on the team a little bit of time though in every game. Obviously, everyone is not going to have all the playing time that they want, but I’m up for the challenge.”
The Bruins will be seeking to finish among the top four teams in the eight-team Trico standings this year and qualify for the District 4 playoffs in October.
“We have good athletic programs here and we have excellent structured teams at Columbia High School and all it takes to be successful is to have good coaching,” said Ramirez. “We have good community support, and I will do my best to help the team be successful. That’s just the type of mentality that I have. It’s my ambition and I’m willing to give it all I have for Columbia High School.”
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