Jonny Medel scored a hat trick and added two assists and the No. 16-ranked and undefeated 6A Glencoe Crimson Tide cruised to a 5-0 victory Monday over The Dalles in a varsity boys’ soccer match played at Wahtonka Field in The Dalles.
Glencoe led 2-0 at halftime on goals by Medel and Javier Cazares.
In the second half, both teams played to a standstill over the first 11 minutes until, the Tide lowered the boom with a pair of goals in a span of three minutes on goals by Medel.
“We let them get behind us a couple of times on defense and they took advantage,” said TD’s Alejandro Gutierrez. “We have to do a better job of communication and spacing to keep those guys back and slow down these other fast teams. I think it is something we can better at for sure.”
TD managed some offensive push in the second half, as Pedro Lopez, Manuel Ruiz and Dylan DesRochers attacked the Glencoe defense, but couldn’t capitalize.
After starting the 2015 campaign with six goals in the first two matches, the Riverhawks have endured some scoring shortfalls with no goals over the past four matches in losses to St. Helens (6-0), Ridgeview (1-0), Madras (4-0) and Glencoe (5-0).
TD head soccer coach Greg Burkart said that it is clear that the team is not putting in the mental or physical effort needed to be competitive in the last handful of matches.
It all starts with him at practice, Burkart said.
“Clearly the things we are working on in practice and how we are working on them is not getting it done,” the coach added. “I think our biggest challenge right now is being honest with ourselves as a team and deciding if we are worth playing hard for and fight for each other in these matches. We need to decide that this matters enough to us as a team to put in the kind of work at practice and during matches needed to turn the season around, because right now that does not seem to be the case.”
Ahead by a four-goal margin in the waning moments of play, the Crimson Tide tacked on a late insurance marker in the 77th minute off the foot of Cazares, his second of the match, on an assist from Medel to run the score to 5-0.
TD goalkeeper Angel Lopez had seven saves in the loss, while Glencoe’s goalkeeper duo of Toby Hodges and Cameron Svenson made a combined six saves, two in the opening half by Hodges, to keep TD off the scoreboard.
Brandon Bustamante is confident the team will get back to its scoring ways.
TD has one more match versus 6A Benson to get things in order up front before the start of league action at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Hermiston.
“I think the forwards are doing a great job of making plays and our mids are doing a good job of making passes to the strikers so they can attack the net for more goals,” Bustamante said. “We just need to finish our chances and put more pressure up front. I think we can do it. A lot of time in the season.”
If recent history is any indication of how a Riverhawk group can bounce back in a major way, 2014 told a perfect story.
In a rough stretch of the schedule in early October, The Dalles played three of four matches on the road and went 2-2 with both wins coming against Pendleton, which secured third place in the Columbia River Conference and the final playoff spot.
Gutierrez is not worried about a losing streak in September.
“I am confident we can bounce back from this,” Gutierrez said. “We have the potential to do good in league. If we can keep working hard in practice and bring it to the games, I think we can do pretty good. We need to stay together even though we are losing a lot lately. Good teams get past stuff and get motivated.”
In other soccer contests, The Dalles girls’ soccer team lost 9-0 on the road Monday against Glencoe in a game where underclassmen Abby Williams and Emma Mullins made their varsity debuts.
TD’s boys’ (1-5 overall) host 6A Benson (1-4) at 4 p.m. Thursday, and the girls head to Delta Park in Portland for a matchup against Benson at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
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