Two evenly matched teams showed up at Bruins field Wednesday after as the 3A/2A/1A-SD4 Special District 4 State Championship Tournament kicked off for the 15-0 #3 OSAA ranked Brookings-Harbor boys soccer team. Two confident skilled teams faced off as the 10-5-2 #17 OSAA Western Christian/Perrydale Pioneers traveled from Salem to challenge the repeat champion BHHS Bruins.
The first half of play saw two tentative teams testing each other to seek vulnerabilities to be exploited. The Bruins quickly went to work using their speed to get behind the Pioneer defense with some success and both teams had scoring opportunities from free kicks at the top of their boxes that both teams failed to convert.
The Bruin defense was strong, stopping breakaways and open shots on goal, but a communication mistake on a free ball between the Bruin defense and the Bruin keeper resulted in a passed ball. Pioneer senior Dominic O’Dell #9 finished off the shot after gathering in the Bruin backfield mistake, giving the Pioneers a 0-1 lead 18:00 minutes into the game.
The Bruins responded by elevating their attack creating many opportunities to score, but just couldn’t hit the mark. Senior captain striker Jair Valdovinos #13 pounded an outside shot past the Pioneer keeper that hit off the crossbar. The relentless Bruins kept up the pressure and worked the ball wide for junior forward Rylan Bruce #5 who made a waist high cross into the middle that freshman Josh Serna #8 ran onto and put behind the keeper off the volley, tying the game 1-1 36:00 minutes into the first half.
But the Bruins weren’t done yet, forcing the Pioneers to chase and clear, tiring the Pioneers late in the first half. Again the Bruins worked the ball in front of the net and the ball squirted out to the far post, where #5 Rylan Bruce finished it off calmly putting the ball in the corner and giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead at the 39:00 minute mark of the first half.
Taking a 2-1 lead into the 2nd half, the Bruins and Pioneers settled into a midfield ball control game. Again both teams tested each others half-time adjustments carefully probing in an effort to not expose themselves to scoring opportunities.
At the 55:00 minute mark, Serna again left his mark on the game, hitting a shot at the edge of the box off of a cross into the net extending the Bruin lead to 3-1 with 25:00 minutes left to play.
The Pioneers increased their attack needing a score to tie the game late. Again the Bruin defense was solid, clearing balls in front of the goal and limiting shots on Bruin keeper Juan Hernandez. But another mistake at the top of the Bruin penalty box gave the Pioneers a free kick that Pioneer senior Makoto Matsugami put behind the Bruin keeper making the score 3-2 at the 68:00 minute mark, revitalizing the Pioneer attack with just 12:00 minutes left in the game.
The final 12:00 minutes were a frantic press by the Pioneers to get the tying goal as the Bruins cleared the defensive end forcing the Pioneers to restart their offensive attack after stopping a Bruin counter attack in the Pioneer half of the field.
The Bruins held on to win the game 3-2 and advance into the next round of the playoffs. Talking with head Coach Jess Beaman after the game he said…”Today these boys played a very physical, athletic team and I am very proud of their performance. They have worked hard all year to get here, and today it showed.”
