The West Linn boys soccer team needed a win, and they knew it.
Wilsonville wanted to prove it could compete against a Class 6A team, and they did it.
In the end, both teams got at least some of what they wanted, with the Lions sprinting out to a four-goal lead and the Wildcats edging back within two scores before finally falling 5-2 at Wilsonville High School on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
“They were good a good team and we had to win to get our rank up, get this season going with another win,” said West Linn junior midfielder Cooper Gilbo, who scored three times in Tuesday’s first half. “Now we’ve got two in a row.”
“It was pretty easy,” said Lion senior defender and team captain Mason Bradley, who assisted on two of Gilbo’s goals. “We just kind of owned the game. We're just kind of building up our season.”
With the win, the unranked Lions’ second straight, West Linn extended its unbeaten streak to four games and improved to 2-1-2 overall. Next up, the Lions play at Lincoln at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19.
Wilsonville, eighth-ranked in the first Class 5A statewide coaches poll of the season, lost for the second straight time and fell to 3-2-0 overall. Next up, the Wildcats face Oregon City at Pioneer Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19.
“It wasn't the result we wanted, but we just want to keep on working really hard,” said Wilsonville senior midfielder Ruben Velasquez, who assisted on both of his team’s goals. “We wanted to show a 6A team that a 5A team could compete with anyone.”
“Before the game, I was a bit pessimistic,” said Wildcat senior midfielder/forward Sergio Day. “I was saying that realistically, we're probably going to lose, but that doesn't mean we can't gain a lot from this and I think this was a great learning experience. We did learn a lot.”
To see the complete slideshow from this game, click here.
Tuesday’s game was relatively balanced through the first 13 minutes, but West Linn took over after that. Gilbo scored the game’s first goal when he took a long Bradley pass up the left wing, controlled the ball, tapped it past the nearest defender and hit an angled shot past the Wildcat goalkeeper to make it 1-0 with 26 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first half.
Gilbo scored again on a break eight minutes later, with the Wilsonville keeper fumbling the ball away at the top of the penalty box and Gilbo scoring in an empty goal with 18:40 remaining in the half.
Gilbo made it a hat trick late in the half when he took another long Bradley pass to the left wing, took one touch past the charging Wilsonville keeper and scored easily to give West Linn a 3-0 lead at halftime.
Wilsonville rallied early in the second half, getting a volley from senior Javier Juarez-Pedrada, a shot by senior Alex Aguiar that was deflected by West Linn junior keeper Finnegan Ryan and set up a Wildcat corner kick.
But it was West Linn that scored next, with junior midfielder Zander Morris playing the ball back out to junior midfielder Ethan Caba who scored at the left side of the goal with 31:31 left to play.
After falling behind 4-0, however, the Cats didn’t quit. Instead, they scored two straight goals, cut West Linn’s lead to 4-2 and kept its deficit at two scores until the Lions connected again near the end of the game.
Velasquez set up the first score with a corner kick from the right side that Aguiar headed home at the left post with 21:35 left in the contest.
The Wildcats kept pushing down the stretch, too, and closed within 4-2 when Velasquez sent a long free kick into the Lion penalty box and senior midfielder Derek Garcia flicked it to the left post to score with 13:14 remaining.
“We certainly turned it around in that second half,” Day said. “That was some of the best football we played all season.”
But West Linn made sure Wilsonville got no closer. Indeed, the Lions closed out their “W” when senior defender Alex Hilliker scored on the next possession for the final 5-2 margin.
“We didn't have a really good start (to our season), but we're just getting better and better,” Bradley said. “(The key going forward) is just playing simple. One-, two-touch and just finishing our chances.”
“We've just got to keep sharp the whole game,” Gilbo said. “It's just consistency. The second half, we kind of got a little lazy.”
The Wildcats, meanwhile, vowed to learn and improve from their loss and move forward.
“Today wasn't our day,” Velasquez said. “(But) once league starts, we've got to step it up because I know league is very important. We want to make it to playoffs and reach the final and win that (championship) and bring it home here.”
“We need to run like a well-oiled machine with no star power from any one player,” Day said. “(We need) everybody doing exactly their part to function as a team. I think that's what will bring us a lot of success.”
Local News
Comments / 0