Crescent Valley's boys soccer team got an early boost for a season of high expectations Friday and Saturday.
The Raiders did not allow a goal in four matches to win the 10-team Newport Soccer Shootout. They defeated Banks 5-0, Taft 7-0 and Seaside 2-0 to reach the final, where they edged Canby 1-0.
In the championship match, senior Kian Mueller scored in the middle of the second half and junior goalkeeper Kai Hoogesteger recorded his fourth shutout of the weekend. The Raiders reveled in claiming the tournament trophy.
“We don't have that many opportunities to win a trophy, so it was cool to end up with some hardware,” Crescent Valley coach Eric Merten said. “The trophy is nice. The guys were like, 'Are you serious?'”
Most summer tournaments are composed of club teams, but the Shootout features high school teams. It gives them a chance to develop chemistry prior to training camp.
“We could spend the time training to get ready for the season, but it really helps to play some games together, and see where the holes are, see where things are working well, things to improve,” Merten said. “It's just a great warm-up for the season. We love it.
“And when it's super hot in the valley, it's at a great location. Everyone is always excited about going to the coast. There's a certain buzz about just being over there.”
Former Newport coach Jake Wood established the tournament in 2012 and current Cubs coach Ollie Richardson took over as organizer when he succeeded Wood in 2015.
The tournament entry fee is $300, well below the cost of typical club tournaments. Teams are guaranteed a minimum of four one-hour games on the artificial turf fields at Newport High School and Newport Middle School.
“It's pretty unique in that it's a high school tournament, 11-v-11,” Richardson said. “My goal for this tournament is not to make money off of it, but just to get quality programs together to where all the games are competitive. I always do it right before the moratorium week so it's the last thing for teams before we run into August. And then the season is right around the corner.”
Wood, who left Newport to become the coach at Jerome, has brought his team to the tournament for the past eight years. Seaside also has appeared in the last eight tournaments.
For this year's event, four teams stayed overnight at the high school campus. Some of them do team-building exercises at the beach.
“I try to create an opportunity for teams to come to the coast and get out of the heat,” said Richardson, who guided Newport to the 4A title in 2017.
Seaside defeated Tillamook for third place and Newport turned back Jerome (Idaho) in the consolation final.
The tournament title provided Crescent Valley with momentum heading into camp. The Raiders return most of their players from a team that finished 9-6 and made the 5A playoffs for the first time since 2017.
“The boys are excited about this coming year because we've got a lot of strong players coming back,” Merten said.
Ancheta to Gresham
Steve Ancheta, West Linn's boys coach for the past four seasons, is returning to the Mt. Hood Conference.
Ancheta has been hired as the coach at Gresham, replacing Rex Moffitt, who stepped down after 12 seasons. Last year, the Gophers won their second MHC title in school history and reached the 6A semifinals.
Ancheta won nine MHC titles and was named the conference coach of the year seven times during stints at Barlow (1999-2002) and Central Catholic (2004-10), where he led the Rams to the 6A title in 2007. He coached West Linn to the 6A final in 2021.
Ancheta has a career record of 166-50-21 in 15 seasons.
“We are very excited to have Coach Ancheta on our sideline this year,” Gresham athletic director Ty Gonrowski said in a release. “He brings a ton of experience and knowledge to our program, but also he is definitely a coach that puts the student part of student-athlete first, and wants to make sure our team excels in the classroom as well as on the field.”
After leaving Central Catholic, Ancheta spent seven seasons as the women's coach at Western Oregon. He was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2012.
6A, 5A finals move
For the first time since 2009, the 6A and 5A boys and girls soccer championships will be played at a venue other than Hillsboro Stadium.
With Hillsboro Stadium unavailable Nov. 11 due to a Portland State football game, the 6A and 5A finals will switch to Sherwood High School. The championship games for 4A and 3A/2A/1A will remain at Liberty High School.
The OSAA met with Hillsboro Stadium and Portland State about scheduling the finals. OSAA executive director Peter Weber said the association could have played one or two finals at Hillsboro Stadium, but did not want to have three sites.
“We reached out to Sherwood to see if they were interested and available, and they were,” Weber said. “We took a look and thought it would be a good spot.”
The OSAA staged the 6A and 5A finals at Liberty from 2006 to 2009 before moving them to Hillsboro Stadium in 2010. Weber said the finals are likely to return to Hillsboro Stadium next year.
“We haven't gotten that far, but Hillsboro has been great for us,” he said. “So I assume we'll be back.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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