By ANNIE FOWLER, The CUJ
PENDLETON — Rowan Evans had a goal and an assist to lead second-ranked La Grande to a 4-1 Greater Oregon League victory Tuesday, Oct. 8, over Pendleton.
“It’s a long season and sometimes teams can start to wear down come October,” La Grande coach Chris Gianandrea said. “Right now, this group is ultra focused and hungry. We are hitting our stride at the right time. The girls can tell we have a special group and we just are focusing on one game at a time.”
Ava Mendoza scored two goals, Paige Allen added a goal, and keeper Lyndie Isaacson finished with three saves for the Tigers (8-1-1 overall, 3-0 SD5).
Senior Kelsey Graham scored the lone goal for Pendleton (3-5-1, 1-1-1), while goalkeeper Citlalli Garcia had six saves.
“The score doesn’t reflect how well we played,” Pendleton coach Kiana Rickman said. “We had some unlucky bounces on the back line, but overall, a really good showing for us. This team is getting more experience under our belt and getting better every game.”
Pendleton will play Thursday at Umatilla, while La Grande will play Oct. 15, at Ontario.
Boys soccer
LA GRANDE 5, PENDLETON 2 — The Tigers finished the first half of their Greater Oregon League schedule with a home win over the Bucks.
Kason Carlson and Ricardo Rossi each scored goals in the first half for La Grande (4-6 overall, 1-2 GOL), while Isaiah Last and Caleb Sexton scored in the second half. The remaining goal was an own goal by Pendleton to open the second half.
Rossi, Carlson, Kast, Sirak Kellogg and Payton Stenkamp all had assists. Justus Pollandt, in his first start of the season, finished with four saves for the Tigers.
Freshman Miles Johnson and sophomore Jack DeGrofft scored for the Bucks, who remain winless on the season (0-9, 0-3). Goalkeeper Khang Le finished with 10 saves. Pendleton will host Umatilla on Thursday.
