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BOYS SOCCER: Crater falls in first round of 5A playoffs By Danny Penza Updated: Nov 01, 2022 09:28 PM A A 7 View all photos Crater entered the postseason with one of the top defenses in all of Class 5A boys soccer this year. But the Comets, who allowed 13 goals in 13 regular-season games, met their match Tuesday afternoon. Ninth-seeded Wilsonville scored three times within the first 31 minutes, building a comfortable lead going into halftime on its way to handing No. 8-seeded Crater a 4-1 loss in the opening round of the 5A state playoffs at Dutch Meyer Field. “Honestly, it’s just hands down how sports go,” said Crater head coach Jason Tester. “(Wilsonville was) the better team today. We watched some tape on them and felt like they were probably the better team coming in. We have a scrappy team and we’ve scrapped through a lot of games this year, but ultimately they were the better team and they found the holes in our game and exploited them. That’s what good teams do. “It was a painful cap to the season, but it was a historic season for Crater being conference champions for the first time in school history. It’s a painful loss, but we lost to a good team that beat us in a straight up game and that’s how sports go.” The Comets (7-4-3) were coming of a thrilling weekend in which they clinched a share of their first Midwestern League title and earned the right to play their opening-round game against the Wildcats (10-5) at home in spite of a No. 13 power ranking thanks to having the head-to-head tiebreaker over MWL co-champion Thurston. All league champions in the top 16 received home-field advantage in the first round. But it was Wilsonville that was able to get on the front foot early on a brisk day in Central Point. Less than two minutes after they saw their first real attempt of the afternoon go just wide, the Wildcats took a 1-0 lead when Yaseen Mubashir took a pass off a short corner kick and saw his shot from just outside the 18-yard box work its way through traffic and past goalkeeper Diego Estrada at the far post. Wilsonville’s lead lasted five minutes before Crater tied things up. It came on the Comets’ first attack of the game, as Parker Allen was able to shed one Wilsonville defender and then hold off another on his left side as he dribbled into the Wildcats’ penalty area. Allen’s right-footed shot had enough on it to beat Wilsonville keeper Diego Macoco-Lopez. “He kinda just leaned out to the right and let that shot rip,” said Tester. “He was bound and determined to get that shot off and that’s truly a definition of how our team has played this year. Every guy who comes off our bench contributes this year, and that was pretty much the formula for our success this year.” As the first half went on, Wilsonville only upped the pressure, including sending in a bevy of crosses toward Estrada’s goal. It worked out as well as the Wildcats could have hoped for as they retook the lead with just over 20 minutes gone in the first half. With one long cross into the penalty area and then a headed ball back into the 6-yard box by Sergio Day right before it went out, Alex Aguiar was able to hit a shot on his first touch to put the Wildcats back ahead at 2-1. Ten minutes later, Champ Ott doubled Wilsonville’s lead, finding himself wide open just outside of the 6-yard box after another cross in for an easy finish past Estrada. Estrada, one of Crater’s five seniors, made arguably his best save of the day less than three minutes into the second half, getting down quickly at the near post to tip the ball out for a corner and keep things at 3-1. One of Crater’s captains, Estrada finished with nine saves. Macoco-Lopez made four first-half saves for Wilsonville, which finished third in the Northwest Oregon Conference and will face top-seeded Summit (14-1-1) in the quarterfinals Saturday. Summit beat No. 16 Corvallis 1-0 in its opening-round match on Tuesday. “They were almost an identical team to us with their play style,” Tester said of Wilsonville. “They don’t have a big midfield, they don’t move the ball extremely well through the midfield, but they like to come off of their backline and go over the top. We play that way as well and they did it a little bit better than us today and our backline struggled with them. That was their game plan to get the ball down the field and get the ball over the top of us.” WEST ALBANY 5, ASHLAND 0: At Albany, with just seconds left on the clock in the first half, West Albany knocked in its third goal to take the wind out of Ashland’s sails as the 11th-seeded Grizzlies fell in the opening round of the Class 5A state playoffs. The Grizzlies (5-4-4), who placed third in the Midwestern League, hadn’t lost in nearly a month after finishing with a 3-0-3 record down the stretch. West Albany (10-3-2), which took third in the Mid-Willamette Conference and is the No. 5 seed, advanced to the second round. In rainy and wet conditions, Ashland yielded goals in the 19th and 37th minutes, but the goal two minutes later with the clock winding down that put the Bulldogs up 3-0 proved to be the backbreaker for the Grizzlies. PHOENIX 2, PHILOMATH 1, OT: At Corvallis, Jenner Selden scored the game-winning goal in the 93rd minute to give No. 14-seeded Phoenix an upset win over third-seeded Philomath in the first round of the Class 4A state playoffs at Crescent Valley High School. Selden took a through ball from Daniel Palomino and was able to poke a shot through as the Philomath goalkeeper rushed off his line to give the Pirates (8-6-1) the go-ahead goal in the second of two 10-minute overtime periods. Palomino scored with eight minutes remaining in regular time to tie the game with a low left-footed shot into the side netting. Philomath (9-1-4) took a 1-0 lead in the 25th minute when Favian Aceves headed home a free kick. Phoenix keeper Julius Bolstad made four saves, with three of those coming after Philomath had taken the lead. Phoenix will play at Skyline Conference rival Hidden Valley (7-6-1) — which beat Molalla 2-1 on Tuesday night — in Saturday’s quarterfinal round. The Pirates beat the Mustangs in both of their meetings during the regular season. ST MARY’S 8, GOLD BEACH 0: Jose Mondesi scored two goals in each half and Konrad Aretz had a goal and four assists to lead fifth-seeded St. Mary’s over No. 12 Gold Beach in the first round of the 3A/2A/1A state playoffs at Lithia & Driveway Fields. Mondesi opened the scoring two minutes in, then got his second in the 20th minute. He got his hat trick with a goal nine minutes into the second half, then scored his fourth less than two minutes later to put the Crusaders (13-1) up 7-0. Aretz scored the Crusaders’ second goal of the day in the 18th minute, while Chris Kranenburg made it 3-0 two minutes later and Timofii Sybirtsev found the back of the net a minute before halftime to give St. Mary’s a 5-0 lead. Caleb Johnson scored in the 53rd minute to end the game early via mercy rule. St. Mary’s will host No. 13 Dayton (10-5-3) in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Dayton upset No. 4 Westside Christian 2-1 on Tuesday. Crater's Parker Allen fights off Wilsonville's Sebastian Zayago-Ecslso to the ball to score during the 1st half Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Crater's Trevor Wilkerson passes the ball off his head against Wilsonville during the 1st half Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Crater's Nevan Quirke controls the ball midfield against Wilsonville during the 1st half Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Crater's Nikhil Joseph takes a shot on goal during the 1st half against Wilsonville Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Crater's Tucker Hopkins heads the ball forward during the 1st half against Wilsonville Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Crater's Lucas Chacon ans Wilsonville's Camerson Little battle for the ball during the 1st half Tuesday in Central Point. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune] Wilsonville's Cameron Little and Crater's Lucas Chacon battle for the ball in the air during the 2nd half in Central Point Tuesday. [Andy Atkinson / Mail Tribune]