The impressive win lifted the Riverhawks into a first-place, three-way tie in the IMC standings. The Dalles (2-3-1 overall), the Pendleton Buckaroos (4-0) and the Ridgeview Ravens (1-4) each have a 1-0 league record to put them atop the six-team standings early in the season.
Amyrah Hill, Lyris Voodre-Grover and Emily Adams (three goals) scored to help lead The Dalles to the victory over Crook County. Hill, Vivian Harrah, Kendall Webber, and Natasha Muzechenko (two assists) each had assists for the Hawks.
The Riverhawks, guided by Coach Colby Tonn, faced No. 3-ranked Pendleton in its second league game Tuesday (result was after the printed edition deadline). The Hawks play their next game at 4:30 p.m. Thursday versus Ridgeview at the Wahtonka soccer field.
“Our back line of Naomi Heredia, Monica Rojas-Soto, Yoko Clack, Alexandra Clack and Ivy Wollum just did a great job defensively in shutting down any attack from Crook County,” said Tonn.
The Hawks faced Class 5A’s best defensive team in a Sept. 21 nonleague road matchup against the No. 9 ranked Putnam Kingsmen 3-0-1 in Milwaukie. The Kingsmen displayed a solid defense and demonstrated a potent offensive attack as well in a 5-0 win over the Hawks. Putnam has allowed just two goals scored, which is the fewest among the OSAA’s 32 Class 5A squads.
“It was a tough game, but Putnam is the best team that we’ve played this year, and this was a good team to face right before league play starts,” said Tonn. “We’re not happy with the result, but we’re looking at it in terms of how we’re progressing. We were making some good offensive runs in the first five minutes of the game and players were making better connections. The players are problem solving and coming up with solutions on how to improve, so that’s nice to see.”
Putnam, of the strong Northwest Oregon Conference (four top-10 ranked teams), took a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute and then scored two more goals to go up 3-0 in the 17th minute. The Hawks had a scoring opportunity in the 19th minute when sophomore forward Hill had a solid shot from 20 yards that was saved by Putnam sophomore goalkeeper Hailey Patlan. “I didn’t really have a good enough touch on the ball that I needed to, but that’s alright,” said Hill, who has scored a total of three goals this year. “I think our team showed a lot of improvement in this game. It was actually one of the best games we’ve played, even though we lost, but we had lots of fun. I definitely love my team and the season has been super fun so far.”
In the 23rd minute, junior midfielder Maisie Bandel-Ramirez had a good chance to score on a shot she booted from 21 yards that again was stopped by Patlan. The shots by Hill and Bandel-Ramirez were the best scoring opportunities in the game for the Hawks. Putnam led 4-0 at halftime. The Hawks played tougher defense in the second half, while allowing just one goal scored by the Kingsmen.
“I almost scored one goal so that was nice,” said Bandel-Ramirez. “We’re positioning ourselves better and we’re making big improvements very quickly and I’m proud of my teammates for the progress that we’ve made during the season. We were pretty tired after playing our third game in six days. It was good seeing us come out here and show good improvements and I think we played very well against Putnam. They’re an amazing team and I’ll give them credit for that.”
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