John Michaels
IVN Contributing Writer
With most of the fall sports coming to a close, the sports teams at Illinois Valley High School had some teams feel the thrill of victory, others the agony of defeat.
Girls Soccer
The Lady Cougars lost their first game last week, before staging a never-say-die rally to tie their final game of the season. Illinois Valley dropped a 6-3 decision at North Valley on Tuesday, before coming back from three goals down twice to garner a 7-7 tie against Glide at home on Wednesday.
In the final game of the year, I.V. hosted the Wildcats of Glide. The Cougars played the part of generous host, in more ways than one. Glide showed up in Cave Junction with only nine players in uniform. Rather than make Glide play shorthanded the entire game, Illinois Valley opted to play the game 9 versus 9. The generosity appeared to backfire, with I.V. giving up three goals in the first 20 minutes of the game and found themselves trailing early.
With the Wildcats up 3-0, the Cougars mounted their first comeback. Freshman Hailey Eaton started the rally, rifling in a shot to get IVHS on the board. Minutes later, senior Achiraya Junwiang found the back of the net to cut the deficit to 3-2. The initial comeback was completed when freshman Natalie Praytor scored with just a few minutes left in the opening half knotting the score and sending the teams into the intermission tied at 3-3.
Glide jumped out in front again with the first three goals of the second half and led 6-3, looking like it might spoil Senior Night for the Cougars.
Junwiang wasn’t having any part of that. The senior knocked in two successive goals with dazzling footwork and intensity, once again getting I.V. within one at 6-5. Just minutes later senior Jaydn Grebisz rocketed a ball past the Wildcat keeper, bringing the Cougars all the way back to a 6-6 tie.
The real heroics were still to come. With less than four minutes left in the game, the Wildcats looped a shot into the net from a nearly impossible angle on the right wing, taking a 7-6 lead with time running out. The Cougars pressed forward on the attack, looking for the equalizer. When the Glide goalkeeper fell to the ground attempting to make a save, a shot that was sure to get into the net was deflected by a Wildcat defender, who used her hands to make the deflection. Since the player was not the goalkeeper, and the handball occurred in the box, Illinois Valley was awarded a penalty kick.
Junwiang, the Cougars’ leading scorer was awarded the kick. Junwiang fired her penalty kick into the lower left corner of the goal, well outside the reach of the unlucky Glide keeper. The goal tied the score at 7-7. Before the ball could be placed at midfield for the ensuing kick-off, the whistle sounded, signaling the end of the game.
On Tuesday, the Knights scored a goal just five minutes into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. However, IVHS responded when Grebisz made a pass that led to a goal from fellow senior Kaleigh Box, tying the score at 1-1.
Minutes later Senior Jessame Pope received a pass from Junwiang and found the back of the net, giving the Lady Cougars a 2-1 lead. North Valley would tie the game up and then take the lead just five minutes before the intermission.
The Knights got two more unassisted goals early in the second half before Junwiang closed the gap to 5-3 with an assist going to Isabele Guzman. The Knights added a goal late to account for the final 6-3 score.
IVHS finished the year with a 2-8-2 record and will lose nine seniors from this year’s squad. Nevertheless, head coach Alyvia Miller remains optimistic. “This is the first time in three years that we have had a girls’ soccer program here at IVHS. A lot of the girls on this team had never even played before this year. I am pretty sure that if we had girls who had been playing for a few more years, we could have made the play-offs. But experience is important. Now we have something to build on. I think our future is pretty bright.”
Boys Soccer
The IVHS boys soccer won their only game of the week, defeating Lakeview 7-2 in Lakeview during a District 5 match Tuesday.
Junior Josh Wood was instrumental in the win, as he had four goals in the game. Seniors Grit Charitram and Tim Wood also scored for the Cougars, as did freshman River Lahey. Tim Wood, IVHS’s main goalkeeper also made six saves in the game. He was able to score as coach Amy Schell-Lapora, with the game in hand, gave the senior Wood an opportunity to fulfill a dream of scoring a goal. Wood took advantage of the opportunity in his final high school game. The Wood brothers were playing their last game together for the Cougars, as the family is moving to California shortly after the season is over. Senior Servando Vargas had three assists in the game, moving him among the state leaders in that category. Lahey also registered an assist in the game.
The Cougars finished the year with a 7-5-1 on the year, and a 4-3-1 mark in District 5 play, which slotted them in fourth place in District 5, just one spot out of the play-offs. It was a significant improvement over the previous season’s 6-8 record and the future looks bright for IVHS who had their largest squad in years and is only graduating five players from its 24 man roster.
Cross-country
On Wednesday, the IVHS cross-country team participated in the prestigious Umpqua Invitational Meet at Stewart park in Roseburg. Senior Curtiss Heier finished seventh in the event, although he was first among all runners below the 5A level as the Umpqua Invite is an “open” meet with runners from all levels participating. Heier covered the 5,000-meter course in an IVHS record of 16:16.50. Heier’s I.V. record also vaulted him into the second spot among 2A harriers this year, trailing only Wyatt Jacobson of Knappa, who recorded a 16:14.0 time at the Champoeg Invitational earlier this month. Heier seems to be peeking at the right time, as is a serious threat to bring home the Cougar’s first ever individual championship in cross-country.
Sophomores Taylor Heier and Gavin Mitchell also participated in Umpqua Invite. With the younger Heier finishing 76th out of 186 runners in a respectable 18:29.0, and Mitchell covering the course in 22:06.50
The Cougars travel to Lane Community College in Eugene for the District 4 meet next Thursday.
Volleyball
The Lady Cougars’ volleyball team traveled to Bandon on Tuesday for their final volleyball match of the year.
IVHS dropped a competitive 25-17, 25-12, 25-16 match to the Tigers. The loss dropped I.V. to 2-19 on the year and 0-10 in Sunset Conference play.
Although the Cougars efforts this year did not result in a lot of on court success, it should be considered a building year for IVHS and coach Beth Boatman. I.V. only loses one senior, Talitha Myers-Pasmant, and the roster is stacked with freshman and sophomores who will form the nucleus for the future. Sophomores Kylee Fish and Lauren Tucker, as well as freshman Saray Mendoza, Samantha Tucker and Kirra McMichael have all earned plaudits from coach Boatman over the course of the season.