The Dalles player Reed Twidwell, on left, fights for a loose ball with Hood River Valley’s Ben Fick. Tuesday, No. 1 HRV scored two second-half goals in a 3-1 win.
The Dalles player Reed Twidwell, on left, fights for a loose ball with Hood River Valley’s Ben Fick. Tuesday, No. 1 HRV scored two second-half goals in a 3-1 win.
The Dalles boys’ soccer team added another goal against No. 1-ranked Hood River Valley and had the game tied at 1-apiece at the half, until two unanswered second-half goals opened the door to a 3-1 Eagle victory Tuesday evening at Henderson Field in Hood River.
This marked the second straight game that The Dalles had scored a goal on Hood River (8-2-3 overall), where before, the team did not hit the back of the net in four years, including a 9-0 spread last season.
“This year, the margin is 2-5, and we have a much younger team,” said TD head coach Matthew Dallman. “That’s something the boys look at, and know we are building something big here. Going into Hood River on senior night, under the lights, and being level with them at halftime, confirms we are a good team on the right track.”
Aside from Reed Twidwell’s goal, which Dallman said was the best all-around team goal he has seen his group score, the second-year coach feels like the three Hood River goals came from passing and ball handling mistakes that led to a counter attack and prime scoring chances.
The opportunities were deposited in the back of the net past TD goalkeeper Jaime Castro, who wound up with five saves in the contest.
“Aside from those goals, the boys are showing a lot of confidence,” Dallman added. “Again, we played well against a top team in state, and I felt we deserved more. In my opinion, we gifted HR three goals. We had a game plan, we stuck to it, and we were successful, with an exception of these three moments.”
Although the Riverhawks enter state play-in action on Saturday winners of one of their last six matches, three of those setbacks were by two goals or fewer, two against the 5A classification’s top-ranked school, and another was at home on Oct. 5 versus the 4A’s No. 3 team, Mac-Hi (Milton-Freewater).
The one win, a 4-1 triumph, came on Oct. 17 at Pendleton.
“That’s the difference between us and top teams in the state right now – we have the quality to compete with anyone, but we don’t make teams earn goals, we gift them,” Dallman said.
The first 14 matches of the regular season were a precursor to one of the team’s goals – to make it to the postseason, where five straight wins from here on out leads to a state championship. A loss, ends the season.
Saturday’s road tilt versus No. 16 Sandy (9-4 overall), the Northwest Oregon Conference’s No. 4 seed, is scheduled at a time to be determined.
“All of our attention is on Sandy now,” Dallman said. “It’s win, or your season is done. The boys know that, and they are hyped.”
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