October 23, 2005
St. Mary’s loses, but retains top seed in district playoffs
Prep Soccer
Sometimes when you lose, you can still win.
St. Mary’s 13-game District 3 boys soccer winning streak, which extended into October of last year, ended with its 2-1 loss to Santiam Christian at
Spiegelberg Stadium Saturday.
But because of a last- minute goal, the Crusaders receive the top spot for the district playoffs, which begin Tuesday.
"Its not fair for Santiam," said St. Mary’s coach Matt Faurot. "We’re the No. 1 and 2 teams, so we both should go (to the
playoffs). You’re giving those fifth and sixth teams shots to get in the playoffs. The system doesn’t seem fair."
St. Mary’s (12-2, 9-1 Dist. 3) shares the District 3 title with Santiam Christian, but the Crusaders secured an automatic berth into the state
playoffs through the Azzi point system.
St. Mary’s will host the team that emerges from two rounds of a league playoff Nov. 1 for seeding into the state playoffs.
The Azzi point system factors in the point differential over the course of the season in conference games.
On a free kick in the 78th minute, the Crusaders’ Sam Moore faked the kick. Senior captain Austin Grant took a shot that curled over Santiam’s
five-man wall to the left and nicked the inside of the goal post.
"I have to give credit to Austin and Sam for devising such a tricky kick," said Faurot. "It was the most clutch goal we’ve scored all
year, and Austin was the perfect candidate to take that shot. To perform like that under that kind of pressure says a lot about those guys."
The Grant goal trimmed the Crusader loss to one point instead of two, which gave St. Mary’s 22 Azzi points to Santiam Christian’s 20.
"I feel fortunate we don’t have to go through those (league) playoffs," said. Faurot. "We underestimated Santiam, to pull the kind of
game that they did. They gave us problems all over the field. We need to improve on dealing with a deficit by playing tougher mentally."
Skyline Boys
MAZAMA 5, ROGUE RIVER 4 — At Klamath Falls, Danny Baker’s hat trick fueled Mazama to its first win of the season.
Rogue River tied the game at 4-all in the 75th minute on Adam Fuller’s second goal after being down 3-0 early in the contest.
Chris Arizol scored the go-ahead goal in the 69th minute for the Vikings (1-10 District 6).
PHOENIX 8, NORTH VALLEY 0 — At Talent, Albaro Gonzalez and Kyle McKinnis sparked a revamped lineup as Phoenix clinched at least second
place in the conference.
Gonzalez scored two goals and had three assists, while McKinnis added two goals and an assist in the Pirates’ (10-4, 9-3 Skyline) final regular-
season contest.
Phoenix coach Dennis Flenner made some late-season changes to the Pirates’ system and has moved players around to better prepare for the
playoffs.
Japanese foreign exchange student Kazuki Nakamori had two goals and Julio Uribe and Luke Nickodemus picked up one each.
Phoenix sophomore defender Andrew Larson helped shut down North Valley, which was limited to four shots in the first half and none after that.
HENLEY 10, ILLINOIS VALLEY 1 — At Klamath Falls, Henley’s Javier Varajas and Anthony Olson each racked up a hat trick to account
for six of the Hornets’ 10 goals.
Henley (9-3, 8-3 Skyline) had a 22-6 shot advantage and 4-0 on corner kicks.
District 6 Girls
NORTH VALLEY 5, PHOENIX 3 — At Merlin, Emily Morehouse connected on two breakaway goals within a two-minute span of the second half as
North Valley broke away from a 3-3 tie to edge feisty Phoenix.
The two squads played to a 2-2 deadlock in the first half. Five minutes into the second half, Marci Klimek gave the Pirates a 3-2 advantage when she
scored on a long direct kick.
But North Valley’s Becky Egli scored on a corner kick in the 51st minute that tied the match at 3-all and set the stage for Morehouse’s
heroics.
Kayla Wilhelm, the leading scorer in District 6, drilled her 18th and 19th goals of the season in the first half for North Valley.
Phoenix’s first-half goals were tallied by Klimek on a header just 32 seconds into the match off an assist from Alex Hanscom and by Tamara Heryford,
who recently returned to the lineup following a hamstring injury.
Rachelle Robles dished two assists and Emily Chirnside one for the Knights.
North Valley moved to 11-2 with the win while Phoenix fell to 6-7 and into a three-way tie for fourth place with Henley and St. Mary’s. The Pirates
can clinch the league’s fourth and final state playoff berth with a win over St. Mary’s on Tuesday.
CASCADE CHRISTIAN 1, HENLEY 0 — At Jacksonville, Katie O’Brien scored off a cross pass from Sarah Thacker to give Cascade Christian
all it needed to clinch a District 6 playoff spot.
The Challengers’ (8-4 District 6) midfielder trio of Stephanie Cotta, Mollie Gathercal and Lindsey Blodgett held Henley’s offense in check by
controlling the ball for much of game.
Henley goal keeper Chelsea Hornbeck collected seven saves.
HIDDEN VALLEY 2, ST. MARY’S 0 — Sixth-ranked Hidden Valley scored two goals in the first 19 minutes at Spiegelberg Stadium, then
St. Mary’s played strong defense spearheaded by freshman defender Valerie Hollopeter and sweeper Whitney Adderson.
Denise Powell tallied for District 6 leading Hidden Valley (12-1 Dist. 6) in the fourth minute, then Ellie Misner completed the scoring.
Melissa Henner recorded the shutout in net for the Mustangs.
St. Mary’s (6-7 Dist. 6) also received excellent performances from freshman midfielder Kelsey Gross and sophomore goal keeper Caitlin Carini.
MAZAMA 5, ROGUE RIVER 3 — At Rogue River, senior forward Anna Gonzales scored two goals over the final 10 minutes as Mazama broke away
from a 3-3 tie to beat Rogue River.
Gonzales had three goals — all in the second half — and one assist on the day.
The game was tied 2-2 at halftime.
Marcy Toro and Ashlie McDaniel also blasted goals for Mazama (3-12, 2-11 Dist. 6). Janette Noland-Degeus and Toro added assists for the Vikings.
For Rogue River (0-11 Dist. 6), Angie Caschera, Jordon Reyes and Lerea Rojos tallied goals.
