Wildcats defeat Falcons for first time since 2009

The whole time Wilsonville boys soccer coach Ian Reschke had Quinn Everts in geometry class, he didn’t know his student had goalkeeping experience.

Then West Linn coach Greg Bean, the coach of Everts’ middle-school club team, clued him in.

“I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll have a chat with him,’” Reschke said. “So I threw out the invitation last spring and said, ‘I heard you played keeper. Maybe you should play keeper for us.’”

So far, that exchange seems to be paying dividends for the Wildcats.

Everts received his first varsity start between the pipes in Wilsonville’s preseason finale, a road triumph against Hood River Valley. And the sophomore kept the job in the Wildcats’ 4-2 win over Liberty in its league opener Oct. 3 at Randall Stadium.

Wilsonville didn’t always look like the top-ranked team in Class 5A that night, but it did enough to end its four-year series losing streak against the Falcons.

The Wildcats (5-3, 1-0 in the Northwest Oregon Conference) snagged their first win over Liberty since 2009, when they earned a 1-0 shutout. They had not defeated the Falcons at home since 2008.

In recent years, Wilsonville’s overall success has come despite its performances against Liberty.

In 2010, the Wildcats went 12-3-1 overall and 6-1 in league play, their only conference loss that year coming at the hands of Liberty. In 2011, one of Wilsonville’s two league setbacks was a 1-0 setback against the Falcons. Last year, the Wildcats bounced back from their 2-0 loss to Liberty by winning six of their next seven games.

Wilsonville’s vitory in its 2013 conference opener kept its preseason momentum going as it vies for a league title and its fifth-straight trip to the state playoffs.

“It’s big,” Everts said. “Starting off the league season with a win is huge. We had a good preseason, and we’re really looking forward to the rest of the year.”

The Wildcats were coming off their 3-2 win over Hood River Valley, which knocked them out of last year’s state quarterfinals. In the teams’ most-recent meeting, Everts made a clutch save on a penalty kick with the game tied and less than 5 minutes to play. Wilsonville then scored the game-winning goal with about a minute remaining.

“It was kind of surprising when Coach said I was going up (to varsity),” Everts said. “I’ve really liked it so far. It’s fun.”

Added Reschke: “(Everts had) been in the JV rotation for the preseason, and he hadn’t had any goals scored on him the first five games. So for our last varsity preseason game, we said, ‘Why not? Let’s give him a shot.’ And he was awesome. So we’re like, ‘OK, you’ve earned it.’”

Reschke said it didn’t feel like his team exacted revenge against Hood River Valley, however, considering only a couple of the players who logged time in the 2012 playoff game are still on the roster.

His program lost 10 seniors from last year’s roster, including all-league goalkeeper Andrew Phillis. The team is also without Portland Timbers academy player Rene Hernandez and all-league midfielder Jasper Samatowic, who is not at the school this season.

The high rate of turnover makes Wilsonville’s current No. 1 ranking seem even more remarkable.

“We’re all a little bit surprised in a way,” Reschke said of his team’s place on the 5A ladder. “But at the same time, looking back and seeing the type of summer we had — the team blossomed. ... All the guys are on the Internet checking that stuff out, and they know that we’re number-one. But I have to remind them, ‘Guys, the underdog always loves to take out the number-one. And usually the number-one team is not there for long.’”

Added Everts: “It’s nice, but you can’t really think about it going into every game. You can’t look forward too far.”

The Wildcats did what they could to stay atop the OSAA rankings against Liberty (2-6, 0-1), scoring a season-high four goals — all in the first half.

Returning senior Timmy Bourque, an all-league defender who has also been a key attack player this season, put Wilsonville’s offense in motion with a breakaway goal in the 7th minute.

“Having Timmy up there really opens things up,” Reschke said. “He can control a ball that comes in front of him, he can turn a defender and he’s hard to knock off the ball. That took (the Falcons) by surprise a little.”

And the Wildcats were just getting started. Four minutes later, junior Adam Kane notched a goal to give his team a 2-0 advantage. Three minutes after that, junior Sam Laurin found the back of the net from the left side of the goal to make it 3-0 less than 15 minutes into the match.

Wilsonville sophomore Garrett Bonnell gave his team a commanding 4-0 edge and secured its single-game season high in offensive production with his goal in the 32nd minute.

Still, Reschke said, he didn’t feel his team was completely out of the woods.

“We talked about it at halftime,” he said. “‘They’re not gonna quit. We can’t lose our composure. If they do score, they’re gonna get confidence.’ And they did. The guys did settle down with 20 minutes left and caught their breath, so to speak. But (the Falcons) were bringing the pressure. Being down 4-0 and coming back — they were definitely in the game.”

After a few second-half trips into Wilsonville territory, Liberty scored in the 50th minute on a penalty kick by senior midfielder Cristian Ramirez.

Two minutes later, the Falcons cut their deficit to 4-2 on a close-range left-footer by junior midfielder Ezequiel Escobedo.

The Wildcats’ defense tightened after that. Everts made two crucial saves, diving to stop a low shot in the 61st minute and jumping up to bat away a high kick about 10 minutes later.

Reschke said putting Everts in the box has allowed him to utilize senior Alex Roberts’ speed at other positions on the field.

“I was pleased with how our guys rallied even when they had a freight train coming their way,” Reschke said. “It was cool to see them settle down after dealing with a little adversity.”

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AT A GLANCE

Wilsonville 4, Liberty 2

Oct. 3 at Randall Stadium

Goals — Liberty: Cristian Ramirez, Ezequiel Escobedo; Wilsonville: Timmy Bourque, Adam Kane, Sam Laurin, Garrett Bonnell.

TAKING LIBERTY

With its league-opening win, the Wilsonville boys soccer team topped Liberty for the first time since 2009 and defeated the Falcons at home for the first time since 2008:

Sept. 17, 2008: WILSONVILLE 2, Liberty 0

Oct. 16, 2008: LIBERTY 2, Wilsonville 1 (2OT)

Oct. 28, 2008: LIBERTY 3, Wilsonville 0 (NWOC playoff)

Sept. 23, 2009: Wilsonville 1, LIBERTY 0

Oct. 22, 2009: Liberty 1, WILSONVILLE 1

Oct. 26, 2010: LIBERTY 2, Wilsonville 1

Oct. 27, 2011: Liberty 1, WILSONVILLE 0

Oct. 4, 2012: LIBERTY 2, Wilsonville 0

Oct. 3, 2013: WILSONVILLE 4, Liberty 2