On Woodland’s home turf, the Ridgefield boys soccer team secured a 1-0 victory on Thursday, April 27.
In the 12th minute, Spudder Jack Brown was awarded a penalty kick due to backside contact by a Woodland player in the box. Brown scored with a straight away shot to the upper portion of the net as Woodland’s keeper, Keaton Northcut, went in the opposite direction.
“My favorite moment was probably all those balls we sent down the wing,” Brown said. “We’ve been talking about that all season about playing that wing because our coach was like, ‘we either get a cross in or we get a corner,’ and we finally implemented it into the game today.”
Woodland’s game plan focused on attacking the middle, but Ridgefield’s defense thwarted those efforts.
“We just had a cold start,” Woodland Head Coach Onesimo Sebastian said. “I didn’t have my full starting 11 that I usually start. Definitely health issues really put a big downfall on us, but I mean, Ridgefield is a good team. Even if they’re on the lower side of the bracket, they’re still not a team to mess with.”
Sebastian said he had a good idea of what to expect from Ridgefield and complimented his athlete’s defensive ability throughout the matchup.
Woodland’s Rogelio Santillan-Guzman has been a focus for the opposing teams this season.
“Number 10, (Santillan-Guzman), he’s an amazing player and we had to double team him the whole game,” Brown said. “We gave him a run for his money.”
Sebastian said he knows colleges are eyeing Santillan-Guzman to play at the next level.
“He’s a great player all around. I’ve watched (Santillan-Guzman) play for a long time and I think he deserves a spot up there, for sure,” Sebastian said. “Every game we have, he’s always the most targeted man. R.A. long marked five guys on him, and even then, they still had a hard time.”
During the game, Woodland had the most chances to score with multiple runs and corners, but were unable to capitalize on those opportunities.
Ridgefield Head Coach Brian Newman said his team had a solid defensive performance.
“I think today we really worked on our communication and really brought on the energy and were able to stop them,” Ridgefield player Jack Radosevich said.
The last time the two league rivals met up was on Tuesday, March 28, when Woodland defeated Ridgefield during an away game, 2-1.
Ridgefield played Washougal at home on Saturday, April 29 and was set to play Hudson’s Bay on the road for their final game on Tuesday, May 2.
Woodland was set to face the undefeated Columbia River Rapids at home on Saturday, April 29 and were scheduled to finish off the season with a visit to Fort Vancouver on Tuesday, May 2.
