Wahluke downs Highland, 2-1, to even soccer mark
MATTAWA — Playing the toughest competition around has its risks, the Wahluke High soccer team has learned this spring. A 2-1 victory over Highland on Saturday got the Warrior record back to even at 3-3.
The Warriors have played three solid 2A programs and three very good 1A programs. They are 2-1 against the 2As and 1-2 against the 1As.
Saturday’s win against Highland on the Highland field is a good barometer of where the Warriors are. The Scotties are tough year in and year out, especially at home.
“We were able to get a win in what has historically been one of the places that we don’t often get a win,” coach Arthur DiVictoria said.
Ricky Cabrera scored Wahluke’s first goal in the 37th minute on an assist from Tony Espindola. Highland tied the score a few minutes later, then Espindola scored again with an assist from Josh Gatica.
The Warriors started the season as with student-athlete weekend in Spokane. They combined a March 10 visit to Gonzaga University with two athletic contests.
“We were able to tour the campus, meet with students and academic advisors,” DiVictoria said. “The visit was a positive one for our students. They were able to see themselves at such a university.”
The Warriors topped off the with two soccer triumphs on the way back. They shut out Pullman on the 10th. They took down Clarkston 2-1 the next day.
The Warriors won the opener in overtime. With the score still 1-1, Emmanuel Hidalgo took a shot on goal that was parried by the Pullman keeper into the path of charging Wahluke freshman Edwin Martinez. Martinez was able to slot the ball away from the diving keeper for the score.
“We played quite well for the first game of the season,” DiVictoria said. “It was interesting playing a 2A school after such a long time. The physicality and size were something that we needed to adjust to.”
The Warriors improved to 2-0 the next day when Alonso Perez, Chrystian Garcia and Alex Valdez scored in a shootout.
“We were able spend some time team building prior to our game with Clarkston, another 2A school,” DiVictoria said.
In the game, Wahluke scored first after Hidalgo was fouled in the penalty box. He nailed the kick in the 20th minute. Clarkston scored in the 27th minute to even the score at 1-1.
The teams stayed tied through the second half and both overtimes to head into shots from the spot.
Wahluke faced its third straight 2A opponent, state-caliber Toppenish, on the 16th and fell 2-1.
Hidalgo scored in the 38th minute off of a penalty kick. Toppenish scored in the 55th minute to even the score. The teams skipped overtime and went right to shots from the spot.
Hidalgo and Espindola scored, but that was short of Toppenish’s effort.
The next contest was another one-goal decision, with Overlake taking it, 1-0. The Warriors put up a tough game but we were unable to put the ball into the net.
The fifth game was a 3-1 loss to Connell, which was the king of the entire SCAC last year.
Wahluke scored first on a Hidalgo goal in the 36th minute. Connell came back with three unanswered goals late in the contest.
“Connell may be one of the toughest teams we face this year, and we had them under control for the first half and 20 minutes of the second half,” DiVictoria. “We then made some mental errors that led to their goals. We will need to bounce back from this loss and regain our footing.”
Wahluke started this week with a Tuesday SCAC East contest at Royal. The Warriors will host Granger on Thursday in a non-leaguer and Warden on Friday in a league contest.