HILLSBORO – For the past three years, no team has been able to find a way to beat Grand View Christian boys soccer.
The No. 1 Eagles (15-0-2) came into the inaugural OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 2A/1A boys soccer state championship game against No. 2 CS Lewis Academy (14-3-1) with a 45-match unbeaten streak.
The Watchmen, who tied the Eagles 5-5 earlier this season, were one of only five teams to post a tie with the Eagles during that streak.
On Friday night at Liberty High School though, the Eagles weren’t going to be denied a 46th positive result.
Grand View came out hot from the opening kick to take home a 4-1 victory and claim the school’s first-ever state title in not just boys soccer, but the first gold medal for any team or individual sport in the school’s history.
“It’s been a grind, it’s been three years and we haven’t lost a game,” Eagles senior Luke Zagaryuk said. “It’s been the goal, it’s been the thing to finally make it to state with our team and now we’re here, it’s real and it happened. It’s awesome.”
The Eagles competed in 3A/2A/1A Special District 7 the past few years, a league designed for schools mostly in the 2A and 1A levels to still play soccer but not go up against the bigger 3A schools.
With the classification being separated starting this year, Grand View and CS Lewis both got their shot at the school’s first ever state title.
“We are honored to be able to play in this state tournament,” Grand View head coach TJ Gardiner said. “For us and CS Lewis and the rest of the 2A and 1A schools to have our own (tournament) and have this opportunity is huge. And of course to win the first one, it’s sweet and it feels great.”
Grand View Christian came out in control of the match from kickoff, constantly thwarting any attempts to flip the field by CS Lewis.
However, the senior-less Watchmen did a solid job of consistently clearing the ball and only gave up a few harmless shot attempts.
In return, the Watchmen were able to get out on a couple fastbreaks, one resulting in a corner kick. The Eagles snuffed it out easily though and sent it back the other way.
Eventually, in the 32nd minute, Eagles junior Leo Nam got a ball deep from sophomore Mark Stakhov and had to keep it from going out the back of the end line.
Nam got it under control and fired a nearly parallel shot that snuck under CS Lewis goalkeeper Benton Lindquist and into the front, near-side corner of the net for the game’s first goal.
“Huge to get the first goal,” Gardiner said. “We have a very experienced team, quite a few seniors, so truly I felt like we weren’t too nervous for the most part. … Getting that first goal for a couple of our younger guys was for sure huge.”
The Watchmen eventually got a response in the final minute when they flipped the field and held some possession, but a light shot on goal from junior Isaac Owen was easily saved by Eagles freshman keeper Daniel Ozeruga, who finished with two saves on the night, to send the game into halftime at 1-0 Grand View.
In the second half, it didn’t take long for Grand View to take advantage of that possession as Zagaryuk got into the corner and fired a cross that found sophomore Eddie Stakhov right in front of the net. Eddie Stakhov collected it and fired away with only a few feet separating him from the net.
CS Lewis wasn’t going home empty handed though as the Watchmen finally turned one of the fastbreaks into a goal.
Sophomore Kenn Williams pushed it forward to Owen who rocketed one home from in front of the net to cut the deficit in half at 2-1 with 28 minutes still left in the match. The two teams met back on Sept. 22 where the Watchmen fell behind 4-1, but scored the next four to go up 5-4 and eventually settle for the 5-5 tie.
That would not be the case again on Friday as the Eagles weren’t phased, going right back to dominating the ball and getting more good looks on net, including a scramble play where the Watchmen saved a goal thanks to a defender stopping an attempt with a wide open net.
Grand View ultimately finished with a 28-7 shot advantage, 17-3 in shots on goal. Lindquist finished with 13 saves for the Watchmen.
Finally, in the 71st minute, the Eagles put the game on ice when sophomore Matviy Palamarchuk spun his way into the Watchmen box and dumped a nifty pass off to Nam.
Lindquist came out to challenge, but was too late and left a wide open net for Nam to fire into for his second goal of the night and a 3-1 Eagles lead.
“Leo and Matviy up front tonight played some of the most beautiful, two-man connection soccer that you can see,” Gardiner said. “And really could have had a few more. Those two together tonight, you could just tell they were in sync. Just gives and gos, amazing to watch really.”
“(CS Lewis) is really good, but I really worked hard,” Nam said. “They had a fast guy and we tied them (in league). So I prepared really hard because it was going to be a hard game, but we all ran hard and played hard and we won.”
For good measure, the Eagles tacked on one more goal in the 75th minute when Zagaryuk, a three-time league MVP during his prep career, took a free kick from about 25 yards out and nailed it into the top, near-side corner for a 4-1 Grand View lead.
“(Zagaryuk) has been good and will always be good and a legend in our school,” Gardiner said. “Our three captains are all midfielders, Luke, Michael (Smityukh) and Vinny (Maulucci). And all three of those guys together are the heart of our team and we rally around all of them. For one of them to get a goal at the end was huge, just the cherry on top.”
The Eagles played some keep away from there to run out the clock and bring home the school’s first-ever state title across any team or individual sport.
“It’s fun to have the high school season, I know it’s only once a year and it’s short,” Zagaryuk said. “To make the most of it, that’s awesome.”
austinw@osaa.org
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