Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Eureka players and coaches celebrate their NCS championship win on Friday.
By Ray Hamill — The Eureka Loggers had a lot of doubters this year.
A lot of people who thought their recent dominance in the Big 4 and North Coast Section was a thing of the past.
Fortunately for the Loggers, however, the coaches and players refused to listen to those doubters and a young and very new-look squad rose to the challenge this fall.
On Friday afternoon, they capped another memorable season by edging league rivals Fortuna 2-1 in the NCS Division-1 girls soccer championship game at Washington Elementary School in Eureka.
The NCS championship is the program’s fourth straight and followed their recent third straight league title.
A large crowd was treated to an entertaining game that realistically could have gone either way.
Grecia Ortiz netted the winning goal just 16 minutes from time to snap a 1-1 tie, breaking through the Fortuna back line after a wonderfully-placed through ball from defender Olivianna Millender and finishing with a calm composure in a pressure situation.
For three Eureka players, it was a particularly memorable victory.
Seniors Angelina Conant, Paige Rodgers and Lorena Hernandez each took home a fourth NCS winners medal, becoming the first athletes in H-DNL history to ever do so in any sport.
All three played pivotal roles on this year’s team.
“This is their last game and all four years of their high school career they won the NCS, and I’m so proud of them,” Eureka head coach Melania Valdez said of the influential trio. “Coming into the season there was a lot of talk about us not going to make it this far and how this team wasn’t going to be the team they used to be. It took a lot of teamwork and hard work to trust in the process, but they put everything out on the field, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
It was a heartbreaking loss for the Huskies, who also fell to the Loggers in last season’s NCS championship game and saw this year’s league title slip away from them on the final day of the regular season.
Check out the second-half highlights and postgame celebrations below …
Submitted photo – Eureka seniors Lorena Hernandez, Angelina Conant and Paige Rodgers became the first H-DNL athletes ever to win four consecutive NCS championships.
However, this is a group of players that gave it their all once again.
“It was a little bit of a heartbreaker,” Fortuna head coach Arnulfo Aguirre said. “But overall I’m proud of the girls with what we accomplished this season.
“I want to shout out to the whole team for not giving up. I’m proud of the girls. I know it wasn’t the outcome we wanted but we battled till the end and it shows that my girls have been working in the offseason and trying to get better.”
The Loggers scored first, taking the lead late in the first half when Braelyn Frank netted off a corner kick that bounced around the penalty area.
But the Huskies responded early in the second half when influential senior Raigan Brooks found the back of the net on a beautiful free kick from out wide.
It was an evenly-matched showdown after that, with both teams enjoying plenty of possession and creating multiple chances.
Both goalkeepers — Eureka’s Peyton Graney and Fortuna’s Bryce Sanderson — held their nerve under pressure and did a good job reading the game and coming out when needed, while also making some key saves.
Overall, however, the victory was a deserved one for the Loggers, who enjoyed the better of exchanges in the opening half and appeared up for the occasion.
“The first half, I felt we were slow and Eureka was on top of us,” Aguirre said. “We picked it up in the second half and created chances. It was pretty even after it was 1-1.”
A long team talk before practice on Thursday helped pave the way to victory for the Eureka girls.
After barely getting past Arcata on a penalty shootout in Wednesday’s semifinal, the coaches and players addressed some issues on Thursday and the team talk paid dividends.
“I thought the girls came out and showed they have the capacity to be able to fix what needed to be fixed,” Valdez said. “Today was just a culmination of everything we’ve been working so hard on.”
Both wings — Kaylee Hill and Natalie Wylie — were particularly effective for the Loggers, as was Ortiz at striker, while the back line led by Millender and Rodgers turned in another composed performance and contained a very dangerous Fortuna attack for much of the afternoon.
“They put out that extra effort today and it showed,” Valdez said of Hill and Wylie.
After the game, a gracious Aguirre paid tribute to the Loggers for their success.,
“I want to congratulate Eureka,” he said. “It kind of seemed like they peaked at the right time and we peaked too early.”
With several talented young players, the Huskies should be back stronger than ever next year.
“It should be a good one next year,” the Fortuna head coach added. “I got some good freshmen and if they stay together you never know what might happen next year.”
The Loggers too should be even better next year as a young roster continues to develop.
“This is a great way to end the season,” said Valdez, who guided the team to a very impressive league and NCS double in her first year in charge. “I’m looking forward to us continuing to better our game and I’m so proud of how far they’ve come.”
