Eagle Men to Finish Season at Home After Back-to-Back 6-1 Soccer Victories

It was all good for the Eagle men's soccer team during back-to-back 6-1 victories against conference opponents Redwoods and Shasta.

Six different Eagles scored and four had assists in the win at Redwoods in Eureka Oct. 24. On their home field four days later, Kian Herdman scored the first 3 goals against Shasta, all on assists from Harrison Frewin, who also had the assist on Joe Collen-Dindar's goal that gave Siskiyous a 4-0 lead 21 minutes in.

Kian scored his third goal with a header from inside a packed group of players that included Shasta's goalie on a corner kick. Kian was beaming when he came off the field after being temporarily replaced later in the half. He was beaming while getting ready to go back in and when he accompanied a beaming Mario Ledezma-Olmedo to the corner for a celebratory leap after Mario scored on an assist from Zachariah Lekezic early in the second half.

Mario powered his kick from just beyond the box between two defenders and past the goalie, while Mason Doran needed a lot less oomph when he finished the scoring late in the second half off an assist from Adrian Contreras-Sanchez. After dribbling past a couple defenders and the goalie, there was nobody between Mason and the net when he kicked it in.

It was a good day too for goalie Julian Martinez, who made his 6 saves on 7 shots on goal both high and low. Julian also had 5 saves on 6 shots on goal at Redwoods, where the Eagles avenged their previous 3-2 loss to the Corsairs, a disappointing defeat on their home field on a day the Eagles rallied from a 0-2 deficit before Redwoods scored the winning goal late on a long penalty kick.

In the rematch, Redwoods again scored first, but it was all Siskiyous after that. Kaden Burch tied it on an assist from Elliott De La Haye Friend 39 minutes into the first half, then Harrison Frewin scored unassisted five minutes later to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead at the half.

In the second half, Mario Ledezma-Olmedo scored on an assist by Julian Martinez, Evan Stienike scored on an assist from Mario, Kian Herdman scored on an assist from Harrison, and Joe Collen-Dindar scored on a penalty kick.

The wins improved the Eagles' record to 3-5 in conference with two matches remaining, both at home. They host Lake Tahoe (5-1-1) Monday, Nov. 3 at 1:30 p.m. then finish the season against Butte (4-2) the following Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.

Though they're 5-11-1 overall, coach Ed Kephart said his team had several good chances for wins against good teams on the road early in the season. They lost 2-1 at Foothill (8-8-1), lost 2-1 at Las Positas (12-3-3), lost 3-2 at San Joaquin Delta (6-7-4), lost 1-0 at Chabot (7-6-3), and lost 5-4 at Yuba (7-5-4).

They played well, but made some mistakes, Kephart said, and being so close so many times without winning was tough to take. But they were fired up before heading to Redwoods and stayed fired up through that game and the next.

Lake Tahoe is second in the GVC standings to Feather River (6-1), while Butte, which lost in the state championship game last year, is third at 4-2.

Kephart said he told his players the pressure will be on Lake Tahoe for Monday's match. "We just want to relax and stay in the moment."

By Steve Gerace