FALL SOCCER PREVIEW
Bucks graduated their entire offense from last year
By ANNIE FOWLER, CUJ Special Contributor
PENDLETON — Former Alabama football coach Bear Bryant once said, “Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.”
Pendleton boys soccer coach Evan Brandhagen is going to have to depend on his team’s defense this season as the Bucks’ entire offense graduated, including Greater Oregon League player of the year Rene Ortega, who scored 16 of his team’s 30 goals last season.
“We graduated our offense and our goalie,” said Brandhagen, who took over the program after Kevin Johnson stepped down. “Three or four of them are playing college soccer, which is nice. We have most of our defense returning, which will be our strength. It’s nice to build off of that.”
Five of last year’s six defenders return, including seniors Griffen Coiner and Anson Dressler, and junior Colin Harrington, who all earned all-league honors.
Also returning are seniors Toese Taula and Matthew Stansberry.
“If we could never get scored on, it would make life easier,” Brandhagen said. “Anson scored a few goals last year, and Matthew and Colin are capable of going forward and scoring.”
Pendleton also is looking at juniors Jaren Yoshioka and Spencer Pace to add goals.
“Jaren was JV last year only because we had guys ahead of him,” Brandhagen said. “Spencer has improved a ton and will be lethal in front of the goal.”
There also has been a battle for the starting goalkeeper job after all-league goalie Manny Lopez graduated.
“We have three keepers — all new to the team this year,” Brandhagen said.
Senior Thomas Feller, who did not play last year, and freshman Jared Pace, have risen to the top.
“Jared was in PYSA,” Brandhagen said. “I’m excited for that program (Pendleton Youth Soccer Association). They have so many kids now.”
The youth program funnels kids into the high school program, which has right around 30 players this fall.
“I’m really excited about that,” Brandhagen said. “Last year, we had three freshmen and barely had a JV team. We’ve got nine freshmen and we had some others come out. We are waiting for an exchange student to come in, but we don’t know who we are getting.”
The Bucks won the GOL regular-season title last year with a 5-1 record and made the state playoffs, where they lost in the first round to The Dalles 2-1. They finished the season 9-4.
“Being a small league, if you drop a game you shouldn’t, it will hurt you,” Brandhagen said. “Other than Milton-Freewater (McLoughlin), we didn’t have a single game where we dropped the ball. We were always ready to play.”
It was the first league title in any league or level of play for the Bucks.
“I think we caught a lot of people by surprise,” Brandhagen said.
The Bucks allowed just 22 goals in 13 games last year, eight of which were scored by McLoughlin. Pendleton gave up just nine goals in GOL play.
“Outside of the Milton-Freewater game, we had the least amount of goals scored on us in the entire league,” Brandhagen said. “I don’t think we’ll get scored on much again this year.”
Mac-Hi, the defending 3A state champion, is back on Pendleton’s schedule this season, as is Riverside, which made it to the 3A state quarterfinals last year.
“I feel like every year we have a challenging schedule,” Brandhagen said. “Milton-Freewater is no slouch, and Riverside is a solid team. That’s the area we live in — there are strong teams.”
The Bucks open play Aug. 29, hosting The Dalles.
Pendleton boys soccer schedule
- Aug. 29 The Dalles at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Aug. 31 Junction City at Pendleton noon
- Sept. 3 Pendleton at Lewiston (Idaho) 4 p.m.
- Sept. 6 Riverside at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Sept. 11 Pendleton at Redmond 4:30 p.m.
- Sept. 17 Bend at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Sept. 24 Pendleton at Baker 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 1 Ontario at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Oct. 8 Pendleton at La Grande 6 p.m.
- Oct. 10 Umatilla at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Oct. 15 Baker at Pendleton 4 p.m.
- Oct. 17 Pendleton at McLoughlin 6 p.m.
- Oct. 22 Pendleton at Ontario 5:30 p.m.
- Oct. 29 La Grande at Pendleton 4 p.m.
