Oregon high school boys soccer semifinals: Brawl mars Cottage Grove's win over The Dalles; vote for Tuesday's top star
The Oregon high school boys soccer playoffs continued Tuesday with state semifinal matches in all classifications. Here are some of the highlights and top performers.
Don't see any details for your team's match? Email some notes and/or stats to rferran.scorebooklive@gmail.com.
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CLASS 6A
A year ago, the Jesuit boys soccer team built the foundation of the program’s 16th OSAA Class 6A state title upon a stellar season from SBLive Oregon player of the year Drew Pederson.
With Pederson now scoring goals for Gonzaga University, the Crusaders had to find a different path to defend their title.
“It’s been a harder year this year,” senior midfielder Nathan Peters said Tuesday night after they pulled out a 2-1 victory over Grant at Cronin Field to send them to their 21st state final. “But not one that we haven’t put enough effort in to earn it.”
The Crusaders (14-2-2) will face top seed Lakeridge (17-1) in Saturday’s final at Sherwood High School.
“They’re a really strong team,” Peters said. “But I’m confident in our ability to do it again.”
Peters scored his third goal of the season off a corner kick from Pablo Salazar with 3:32 left in the first half, and Diego Nieves added his first of the year six minutes into the second to double their lead.
“It means so much for everybody to spread out those points and for everybody to have a share in the wins,” Peters said. “We really have an amazing community and so many solid players that work together as a unit. Everyone’s putting in their shift. Everybody contributes to get us our wins.”
Still, the Crusaders had to survive a frantic final 15 minutes after Grant (6-10-2) — the No. 30 seed that knocked off the Nos. 3, 14 and 6 seeds to get this far — cut the lead in half when junior midfielder Charlie Moss pounced on a loose ball in the 6-yard box and blasted it home.
“We had every reason to pack it in at 2-0 down, and things weren’t really going our way,” Generals coach Erik Miller said. “But they just kept pushing to try to equalize. That just speaks a lot about our team and the type of character in this group. Such really good leadership. I just couldn’t be more proud.”
Lakeridge 3, Lake Oswego 0 (OT)
The city rivals battled through 80 minutes of regulation scoreless, but Rafa Loyo’s goal off a deflected cross three minutes into overtime opened the floodgates as the Pacers advanced to their first state final since winning the last of their six titles in 2016.
Loyo’s brother Mauricio scored twice in the final minute to secure the victory.
CLASS 5A
Hood River Valley 2, Wilsonville 1
Felipe Mendez turned home a feed from Edgar Luchino with five minutes left to send the eighth-seeded Eagles (13-4) to the fourth final in school history and first since they won the title in 2015.
Mendez’s fourth-minute goal gave Hood River Valley an early lead, but the 13th-seeded Wildcats (8-8-1) equalized before halftime on a volley by Alex Aguilar.
Summit 2, La Salle Prep 1
Bowen Tueber opened the scoring three minutes into the match, and Quinton Swanston scored off an assist from Cole Bradley 12 minutes later as the second-seeded Storm (14-1-3) built an early 2-0 lead and held on to defeat the third-seeded Falcons (14-4).
La Salle Prep’s Cooper Eldon scored with 2:29 left, slotting home a pass from Kevin Serrano-Maldonado off a free kick to set up a wild finish. But the Falcons couldn’t find an equalizer as Summit advanced to its fourth OSAA state final in the past five seasons.
CLASS 4A
Newport 3, North Marion 1 (OT)
Anthony Gonzalez headed in Ivan Hernandez’s corner kick 90 seconds into the first overtime period, and Aaidyn Bokuro secured the fourth-seeded Cubs’ first trip to the state final since 2017 with his goal with three minutes left.
Brock Spink scored for Newport (14-1-2) in regulation on a low shot just inside the penalty area in the 25th minute.
Noah Martinson made nine saves for the Cubs, who won back-to-back titles in 2016-17.
Cottage Grove 3, The Dalles 1
The sixth-seeded Lions scored twice in the final 18½ minutes to pull out the victory, but the game was marred by a brawl with nine minutes remaining. After a long delay, the game was played to completion.
Hayes Valley put Cottage Grove (14-2-1) ahead four minutes before halftime, heading home a corner kick. Hulises Najera equalized from the penalty spot for the Riverhawks in the 58th minute.
CLASS 3A/2A/1A
Westside Christian 4, St. Mary’s (Medford) 1
Freshman Adam Wachsmuth scored twice off assists from Brady Housley, and district goalkeeper of the year Gabe Wong made eight saves to help the top-seeded Eagles (16-1) advance to the school’s first state championship match.
Housley and Adrian Vidican also scored for Westside Christian, which had not advanced past the quarterfinals until this season.
McLoughlin 4, Catlin Gabel 3 (SO)
The third-seeded Pioneers (17-0-1) survived two goals from Eagles captain Raul Rendon Benitez to win the shootout 4-2 and advance to the state final for the second consecutive year in search of the program’s first title since 2007.
“One of the best matches I’ve seen in a semifinal in terms of two really evenly matched teams,” said Catlin Gabel coach Peter Shulman.
All three Catlin Gabel goals came off headers. Benitez scored his first off a pass from Sofiane Smahi, and sophomore Papa Diallo glanced in a cross from classmate Nolan Swaim.
Benitez gave the Eagles (13-3-1) a 3-2 lead by heading in a pass from Levi Whalen Stewart, but McLoughlin sent the match to overtime with a tying goal with 7:30 remaining.
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