Lakeridge dethrones Jesuit as 6A Oregon boys soccer champion: ‘It took a whole group of brothers to get this done’

“Our goal has always been to win a ’ship. We always believed in ourselves.”

When Lakeridge fell behind against defending champion Jesuit in Saturday’s OSAA Class 6A boys soccer final, the Pacers didn’t panic. 

“I saw something where we’d scored the most goals in 6A,” said senior center back Karson Kosik. “I know we’re a good scoring team, and we’re going to get those back.”

It was Kosik who scored the tying goal with nine minutes remaining, and it was the team’s talisman — senior midfielder Rafa Loyo — who delivered the winner 75 seconds into overtime as the Pacers dethroned the Crusaders 3-2 at Sherwood High School.

Loyo also scored the go-ahead goal in overtime Tuesday that helped the Pacers (18-1) outlast crosstown rival Lake Oswego 3-0 in the semifinals, and the captain said that experience helped them Saturday. 

“Mentality-wise and nerve-wise, we told ourselves we’ve been through this, and we got through it,” said Loyo, the Three Rivers League player of the year. “We knew Jesuit is a great team, so we knew it wasn’t going to be a 3-0 or 4-0 game. We knew it was going to be close, so it was kind of expected.” 

And when the moment called for it, Loyo’s teammates knew they could count on him to come up with a big play — finding himself free at the far post to volley home Owen Frazier’s free kick for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season. 

“He’s a leader. He’s just that guy,” Kosik said. “We knew we could come back. We knew we could get that goal.”

Fifth-year coach Alan Cox called Loyo “wise beyond his years as a high school player. He’s just so cultured with the way he plays. He knows how to manage the emotions of players and how to manage the moments in games, and then he matches that with just quality. And he can do something to influence the game, and he’s done that again tonight.”

Saturday’s title was Lakeridge’s first since 2016 and seventh all-time, and it had been building for this veteran group that started nine seniors and finished with a 6A-high 69 goals.

They lost in the quarterfinals each of the previous two years, and those losses spurred their championship run this season.

“After last year, we were talking after the loss, like, it’s not going to happen again,” Loyo said. “We had to work. It took a whole group of brothers to get this done. We got the job done, and now we can celebrate.”

For the Crusaders (14-3-2), the Pacers’ late dramatics brought a crushing end to their title defense. They graduated seven starters off last year’s team, but they never doubted to the end that they would bring home a 17th blue trophy to their Southwest Portland campus.

“Coming back in the second half, scoring two goals in like five minutes, it really brought our hopes up,” said sophomore striker Eyad Salhi, who scored the go-ahead goal in the 50th minute. “It’s just unfortunate that we took the loss in overtime, but great work from the team.”

Salhi said the team would rue its inability to deal with set pieces that led to the Pacers’ tying and winning goals.

Kosik played cleanup at the far post on a corner kick delivered by Jacob Real that spilled in front of him eight yards from goal. He slotted it back across the face of goal and inside the right post.

After Jesuit keeper Elliot Parelius swallowed up Rollo Van Driesche’s point-blank shot in the final minute to force overtime, the Pacers found the winner as Frazier sent his free kick from the right wing over a crowd of players to where Loyo was waiting in the 6-yard box.

“After Lakeridge got that second goal, it really brought their momentum up, and we started panicking a little bit,” Salhi said.

“But this is a fantastic group of players. We have a lot of seniors on the team, but we have some young players as well. I’m looking forward to being back here next year.”

Before the Pacers could mount their rally, it was the Crusaders who had to bounce back after giving up a penalty 29.2 seconds before halftime.

Loyo, who drew the foul that earned the spot kick, stepped up and squeezed his shot just inside the right post as Parelius guessed correctly and nearly got a hand to the ball.

Jesuit thought it equalized two minutes after halftime, only for the goal to be disallowed for bumping Pacers keeper Dane Whipple on the cross.

Six minutes later, the Crusaders scored the tying goal off a corner kick, with several looping headers eventually finding senior defender Jack Reding at the far post to head home from close range.

It took them just 58 seconds to go ahead for the first time as Salhi lasered a shot from the penalty arc off a perfectly timed through ball from Logan McGuire.

“We all knew when that second one went in, we said we have 30 minutes,” Kosik said. “We have time. Don’t panic, don’t lose our focus, and we did exactly that.

“Our goal has always been to win a ’ship. We always believed that we could. We always believed in ourselves.” 

Photos by Taylor Balkom

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