The Dalles High Riverhawks girls soccer team played arguably its best game of the season Oct. 19 in a 0-0 tie against the Pendleton Buckaroos.
The Hawks (3-3-2 IMC, 4-6-3 overall) are in an Intermountain Conference Class 5A playoff race and a loss would’ve been devastating to their chances of reaching the postseason.
A tie against the No. 6 ranked Buckaroos (6-1-1 IMC, 9-2-1 overall) was a moral victory for Coach Colby Tonn and his Hawks, especially considering the Buckaroos have the fourth-ranked offense (3.91 goals per game average) out of 31 Class 5A teams.
“We’ve been working really hard as a team on defending and preventing goals,” said Tonn. “It’s been paying off here and we’ve had almost three consecutive games with a shutout. If you don’t allow goals, then you can’t lose games. Pendleton ran through league beating everybody and so coming out here and not allowing them to score, that’s really good. A couple of times it seemed like we dodged a bullet and sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t, but today it worked out well for us.”
The Hawks’ defensive back line of Yoko Clack, Alexandra Clack, Marisa Rojas-Soto, Monica Rojas-Soto, Naomi Heredia, and goalkeeper Katlyne Sorensen (six saves) played stingy.
“Everybody on our back line all did an amazing job and I’m really proud of all my teammates,” said Sorensen. “I think this was the most challenging game we’ve had this year. We lost (4-2, Sept. 28) to them the last time we played them and so I think this was good. This was one of our proudest moments and it was one of the best games that we’ve played all season.”
The Buckaroos, guided by Coach Kiana Rickman, outshot the Hawks 8-2, and scored in the final seconds. Referees didn’t allow the goal that was scored as the clock wound down to zero because a Pendleton player committed an offside violation. It marked the first time that Pendleton was shut out in an IMC contest this year.
“It (tie) benefits The Dalles a lot,” said Rickman. “It’s frustrating from our point of view because we had so many scoring opportunities. I think my girls are going to feel like this is kind of like a loss. The Dalles just did a great job of maintaining composure and they played pretty well. Their keeper (Sorensen) looked like an all-star goalkeeper throughout the game because she stopped literally everything that came in her direction. I know that they (The Dalles) are pretty happy about the tie.”
The Dalles had scoring opportunities during the game as seniors Vivian Harrah, Emily Adams, juniors Natasha Muzechenko, Naomi Heredia and sophomore Anyrah Hill all had solid shots at the Pendleton goal.
“We were one or two good touches away from scoring a goal as well and possibly getting a win and the girls had some good scoring opportunities,” said Tonn. “We have to be ready to go, because this playoff race will go down to the last game of the season.”
The Rojas-Soto twins played solid defense while repeatedly kicking the ball out toward midfield away from the Hawk goal area.
“It was great the way we came together and played, and the results showed out on the field today,” said Marisa Rojas-Soto. “It took a lot of communication by everyone back there, so this was great. We were hoping to get a win, but to me, it kind of feels like a win because we kept them from scoring, we stopped all of their shots and we got a tie. The season has been just awesome, and we’ve had lots of fun all year.”
Monica Rojas-Soto said: “This is really exciting for me, since it’s my first game in two weeks because I had a concussion and I missed a couple games and all our practices in the last two weeks, so I thought I played pretty well. We had a good result, even though we didn’t win, but I would rather have a tie than a loss.”
Just two days after playing their best game of the year, the No. 19-ranked Riverhawks had one of their worst in a 5-0 loss to the No. 15 ranked Ridgeview Ravens (5-1-2 IMC, 5-5-2 overall) Oct. 21 at Ridgeview High in Redmond.
That defeat left the Hawks with slim chances to advance to the playoffs. The Hawks in fourth place behind the No. 14 ranked Redmond Panthers (5-2-1 IMC, 7-3-1 overall). The top three IMC teams advance to a first round state playoff game Nov. 2. The Dalles needs Crook County (0-8 IMC, 0-12 overall) to defeat Redmond in the final regular season home game for both teams Thursday at Redmond High School.
“We would need to win our last two games and Redmond would need to lose their last two,” said Tonn. “It (a Cowgirls win) would be quite an upset. They (Cowgirls) have only scored two goals all season. Hopefully, we can take care of business and win, then it would add some pressure in the playoff race.”
The Dalles faced Redmond Tuesday in its final home game of the year (result was after the printed edition deadline). The Hawks conclude the regular season with a 6:30 p.m. contest versus Gorge rival the Hood River Valley Eagles (2-6 IMC, 3-9 overall) Thursday at Hood River Valley High School.
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