BAKER SOCCER: Bulldog boys hold off La Grande, 4-3; girls fall 8-1

Published 8:14 am Tuesday, October 1, 2024

The Baker boys soccer team held on for a thrilling 4-3 win over La Grande under the lights Tuesday night at the Baker Sports Complex to take the lead, along with Ontario, in the Greater Oregon League at 2-0.

Baker won its fourth straight game to improve to 4-3 overall.

“The boys do have a lot of confidence,” Baker coach Victor Benites said. “They passed the ball well.”

Baker took a quick 2-0 lead on goals by Danny Duran-Puente and Alan Bedolla in the first eight minutes.

La Grande halved the lead with a goal 11 minutes in. 

The Tigers tied it at 2 on a goal by Ricardo Rossi midway through the first half.

Nahom Svitak nearly gave Baker the lead but the La Grande keeper tipped his shot at the last second with 18 minutes left in the first half. Alan Bedolla also had a strong shot on goal a few minutes later.

Bedolla had a shot bounce off the crossbar with 13 minutes left.

Baker’s freshman goalkeeper, Hasen Hellberg, had a leaping save to keep the score tied. He had two other saves late in the first half.

The score remained tied at 2 at halftime.

Baker quickly regained the lead at 3-2 three minutes into the second half when Jason Ludin scored on a nifty crossing pass from Danny Duran-Puente.

Ludin made it two in a row 11 minutes into the half, getting ahead of the La Grande defender and beating the keeper for a 4-2 Baker lead.

Hasen Hellberg had a stellar save on a sharp La Grande shot with 19 minutes left.

La Grande cut the lead to 4-3 when a corner kick snuck into the net with 10 and a half minutes left.

La Grande had several runs in the last five minutes but the Bulldogs held off the Tigers to take the 4-3 win.

Benites said he was pleased with Baker’s aggressive play in the first half and for the first part of the second half, when the Bulldogs kept the ball on La Grande’s side of the field much of the time.

“We need to keep the pressure up for the whole game,” he said.

Benites said a few Baker miscues late in the match helped La Grande get several shots on goal.

He said he was impressed with Hasen Hellberg’s performance in the goal.

“He’s a freshman so he doesn’t have a lot of experience, but he’s working hard and doing a good job,” Benites said.

Baker plays host to Fruitland, Idaho, in a nonleague match Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Sports Complex, then returns to its league schedule Monday, Oct. 7, against Ontario, also at 5:30 p.m. at the Sports Complex.

Ontario, a perennial league power, is 3-3-2 overall and tied with Baker atop the league at 2-0 after beating Pendleton/Weston-McEwen on Tuesday.

Benites expects a tough match against the Tigers.

Girls match

The Baker girls also played La Grande on Tuesday at the Sports Complex.

The Bulldogs, 3-3-1 on the season, were on a three-match unbeaten run, with two wins over Payette and a 3-3 tie against Pendleton/Weston-McEwen in the league opener on Sept. 24.

The Tigers, 6-1-1, showed in the first half why they’re the top-ranked Class 4A team, as Paige Allen had a hat trick in the first eight minutes.

La Grande added three more goals in the first half to lead 6-0 at halftime.

Baker’s defense tightened later in the half, allowing no goals in the final 26 minutes. Goalkeeper Oakley Anderson had several saves to thwart the Tigers.

Jill Poe, Baker’s leading scorer, had two shots in the first 90 seconds, but after that La Grande kept the ball on Baker’s side much of the half.

The final score was 8-1.