HRV boys soccer ended non-league action Sept. 17 with a 3-0 loss on the road to La Salle Prep. Manny Arteaga (pictured), a senior midfielder, is one of 10 seniors on this year’s roster who needs to step into a leadership role now that senior captain Robby Running is out for two or three weeks with a shoulder injury.
HRV boys soccer ended non-league action Sept. 17 with a 3-0 loss on the road to La Salle Prep. Manny Arteaga (pictured), a senior midfielder, is one of 10 seniors on this year’s roster who needs to step into a leadership role now that senior captain Robby Running is out for two or three weeks with a shoulder injury.
The Hood River Valley boys soccer team closed out its 2018-19 non-league schedule this past week with a road game versus La Salle Prep on Monday, Sept. 17.
“Foremost is we let our emotions get the best of us in a heated game,” said HRV’s boys head soccer coach Jaime Rivera. “All of us were very emotional. I have to do a better job as a head coach of making sure that we show up and play soccer and carry out our game plan. When we don’t do that and let our emotions get the best of us, in a rivalry game, it’s going to negatively affect our performance.”
For a third time in four games, the HRV boys soccer team was held scoreless and suffered their largest margin of defeat by a final score of 3-0.
“I take responsibility for how our program performs, and against La Salle, I was embarrassed that we let things get away from soccer,” said Rivera. “It was more about us worrying about the call and non-calls in this game and when we focus on the things that are uncontrollable, it takes us away from the game, and it starts with me.”
Ahead of this matchup, HRV was coming off its first win of the season as the Eagles beat Franklin at home by a final score of 1-0, moving 1-2 on the season.
On the other hand, La Salle Prep beat West Salem by a final score of 2-1 and took over as the number one team in 5A state standings with a 3-0-1 record.
With one team looking to find any kind of momentum before league play and the other trying to hold on to its number one state ranking, both teams were in two completely different scenarios on Sept. 17.
Along with the task of facing the number one ranked school in the state, the HRV boys soccer team was also without their senior captain, Robby Running, who is out of competition for two or three weeks with a right shoulder injury.
“Not having Robby out there versus La Salle didn’t help us,” said Rivera. “He’s the glue to our team on the field and mentally, he doesn’t get into it with the refs and is very good with controlling emotions.”
Despite being without Running for an extended amount of time, Rivera explained that after Monday’s practice, he felt confident about how the team looked heading into Monday’s game against La Salle.
“We had a fantastic practice the night before facing La Salle,” said Rivera. “We were moving around with a lot of energy and the passing was strong, but most importantly, the team was focused. We looked like a high-quality varsity soccer team out on the field and I was really excited before La Salle, but we needed to translate that into the game.”
To open this season, HRV has been outscored 1-7 and has lost by a score of 0-2 twice and 0-3 once.
“Sometimes you’re going to run into a better team and things you can’t control,” said Rivera. “We need to work on controlling what we can control.”
After a 1-4 non-league start to the season, HRV now heads into league play with an emphasis on winning the 5A-4 Intermountain Conference title as that’s the boy’s best shot of securing a spot in the 5A state playoffs.
With the absence of Running, the task of getting league off to a hot start will be much more difficult than anticipated and the seniors “have to step up and fill in the leadership role,” said Rivera.
Seniors on this roster include: Harry Wilde, Ulises Juarez, Rafael Kenzo Nakanishi, Manuel Trejo, Erik Pitones, Ivan Carabantes, Manny Arteaga, Damian Charco and Running.
HRV opened league play on the road against Ridgeview on Thursday, Sept. 20 and tied with the Ravens 1-1.
Next up HRV will play Crook County at home on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m.
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