HILLSBORO – Forest Grove hasn’t had an easy week.
Last Thursday night the Vikings had a chance to test themselves against the very best – a Westview team that has won back-to-back Metro League titles and played for a state championship last fall.
The test didn’t go well.
Westview scored early and often en route to a 5-0 win, and that came on the heels of a 3-0 loss against Sunset just two days prior. So after opening the season with a win against Century in an endowment game, the Vikings are now 1-3 on the season and 0-2 against 6A competition.
“Teams like Westview will undress you,” Forest Grove head coach Rolando Piril said. “They will show you every mistake and every little thing you need to work on. I saw a lot of mistakes in the fundamentals and that’s what we’ve got to work on.”
Westview started shooting early. The Wildcats got on the board in the 13th minute when senior midfielder Jacob Gandel scored the first goal of the game, and two minutes later senior forward Johnny Gamez scored on a 16-yard shot to the upper right corner to make it 2-0.
A bright spot for the Vikings came in the 15th minute when senior forward Justin Walker, who saw a lot of defensive action Thursday night, stripped Gamez in front of the Viking goal and tore up the sideline dodging defenders and working his way through six Wildcats before crossing the ball past midfield.
Walker has stood out of the crowd early in the season. He has six of the Vikings’ seven goals so far, but Piril had Walker step back and play defense Thursday night against Westview to better utilize his skills.
“We wanted to be a little bit more defensive tonight,” Walker said after the game. “They are a good team and third in state.”
Westview seemed to have all the luck, too. A hand ball call in the box resulted in a penalty kick and Westview goalie Alex Watson netted the shot in the upper left corner to bring the score to 3-0 in the 17th minute. Westview’s Connor Taggard finished the scoring in the first half with a rocket from 28 yards to put the lead at four.
Westview wouldn’t score again until another penalty kick was awarded in the 63rd minute. Gamez made the shot to push the lead to 5-0.
For Piril, the goal of the pre-season was to challenge his players on the heels of their best season in 30 years. By scheduling teams like Sunset and Westview right out of the gate, Piril felt he could get a good barometer of his team.
“We were trying different things,” Piril said. “I use these games to see what I have and I’m discovering things that I didn’t know we had this year.”
Piril said he isn’t worried about dropping a few games this early in the season.
“We are trying to see what works.” he said. “It’s hard to tell [who is playing well] before we go into the games that count. It’s basics and fundamentals that we need to work on now. I’m not worried about the score so much. The team will come together.
“I think we are ready. Our league is going to look a lot easier after all of these tough teams.”
::Update::
Forest Grove capitalized late and used two second-half goals goals to beat Madison 2-0 on Monday night.
Senior forward Guillermo Rubio scored two goals in a five-minute span during the second half. The first goal was a 20-yard laser assisted by Raul Rocha-Soto in the 62nd minute and his second was an 8-yard, 180-degree turn-and-kick, which squirted past Senators goalie Rolondo Valdovinos in the 67th minute.
The win moved the Vikings to 2-3 overall this season as they get ready to open up league play on Thursday against Tualatin.
“It was a good game,” Forest Grove head coach Rolando Piril said. “They passed the ball well. They are getting used to it. With this team, there was less pressure and we had more time. When [we] are under pressure we seem to panic, but that comes with experience.”
The Vikings utilized passing and ball control on offense and leaned on a surprising performance from their replacement goalie, sophomore Graham Connell. He replaced Eduardo Mandujano, who did not play due to injury. Connell was also injured in the 15th minute after getting kicked in the face by Madison senior midfielder Ricky Rodriguez.
“I got it in the nose,” Connell said afterward. “I blocked the ball and then I saw his foot come in.”
Sophomore Fransisco Garcia replaced Connell through the 21st minute.
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