THE DALLES soccer player Brooke McCall (right) laces a clearing pass to the offensive zone past a Pendleton midfielder, while teammate Kim Vazquez looks on in Tuesday’s matchup in The Dalles. Down 1-0 at the break, the No. 14 Riverhawks stormed back with six second-half tallies to cruise past the Bucks, 6-2.
THE DALLES soccer player Brooke McCall (right) laces a clearing pass to the offensive zone past a Pendleton midfielder, while teammate Kim Vazquez looks on in Tuesday’s matchup in The Dalles. Down 1-0 at the break, the No. 14 Riverhawks stormed back with six second-half tallies to cruise past the Bucks, 6-2.
In her first game of the season, senior Kim Vazquez scored a goal and tacked on an assistfor a 6-2 victory Tuesday in a Columbia River Conference varsity soccer battle against Pendleton at Discovery Field in The Dalles.
“It felt good being out here to help my teammates,” Vazquez said. “I thought we had a great game and did good to score all the goals we did. I think we will get a lot better after today.”
With a 1-0 halftime deficit, the Riverhawk onslaught took place in the second half with six goals in a 25-minute span.
Brooke McCall got the ball rolling at the 52-minute mark with a hard shot from 15 yards out on an assist by Jennifer Bonham to even the count at 1-1.
Two minutes after McCall had knotted the tally, all-league standout Hannah Walasavage corralled a pass from Vazquez and laced a shot just inside the right post from 18 yards for a 2-1 Riverhawk lead.
The Dalles would keep surging and never look back.
“Once we scored the first goal, I think we just settled down and started playing free and aggressive,” said Monique Mendiola. “We have so many girls who are real quick, can dribble, pass and work as a team. I was excited to see us play like we did. It was fun.”
After Walasavage tickled the twine, Vazquez extended the Riverhawk lead at the 58-minute mark with a pass from McCall. Vazquez split two Buckaroo defenders and fired a bullet over the Pendleton goalkeeper’s head to make it a 3-1 advantage.
Ten minutes after Vazquez’s goal, Walasavage worked her magic once again with just 14 minutes left in the match after scooping up a pass from Giselle Manzo.
Walasavage, a junior, then made a quick touch, created space and laced a left-footed blast past the Pendleton goalkeeper just inside the left post to make it, 4-1.
This year has marked a huge turnaround for the Riverhawk varsity program.
In 2013, The Dalles tallied 14 goals in games and posted just one league victory.
With four league games still left on the docket, The Dalles has already doubled its goal total with 28 and also doubled their league win total from one to two.
Since her freshman season, Walasavage has never tasted the fruits of victory against Pendleton. The Dalles has gone 0-2-2 in the span and have been outscored 8-4.
“It means a lot to us to finally beat Pendleton, especially the way we beat them,” Walasavage said. “I think we are more focused and have that want to get to the playoffs. Whoever we play, we are going in the mindset that if we play well and win, we are closer and closer to our goal. This felt great for us.”
Staked to the three-goal lead with 14 minutes still remaining, the Riverhawks used the McCall to Mendiola connection to add another point to the scoresheet.
McCall made a quick pass to a streaking Mendiola, who was right in front of the Pendleton keeper just outside the penalty area.
Mendiola put all of her force in the shot and drilled the back of the net to swell the TD cushion to 5-1.
Pendleton then used a Riverhawk turnover and turned the tide for a goal to inch to within 5-2 with time running out, but The Dalles answered that goal quickly.
Walasavage dribbled past some Pendleton players and tipped a pass to Mendiola for a breakaway.
As Mendiola approached the goal, Pendleton’s keeper tried to rush the ball, but Mendiola coolly flipped her shot over the keeper and the ball slowly worked its way across the goalline for the last marker of the match.
The Dalles (6-3-1, 2-0) hosts Hood River Valley (3-4-3, 2-0) at 4 p.m. Tuesday for senior night against the No. 18 Eagles.
“We have a couple of games left and it does not get any easier from here,” said TD coach Colby Tonn. “It was good that we won tonight, but we have to play consistent and smart to even think about playing well in the playoffs. We have a lot to work on, but we can build on what we did today against Pendleton.”
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