The last few games of the regular season for fall sports are coming up in the next week-plus. Last month we covered Tigard football and volleyball, so here’s a look at how the other fall sports are looking heading into the end of the season.
Girls Soccer:
The Tigard girls soccer team’s season ended in disappointment last year when the Tigers were upset in the opening-round of the state playoffs. Tigard entered the postseason ranked as the state’s No. 6 team, and lost in penalty kicks in the opening round to No. 27 Westview.
The Tigers season started off a little bumpy, with Tigard dropping two of its first three games. Since then, the Tigers have played near perfect, winning seven games in a row as of our press deadline to sit at 8-2 with three games left in the regular season. Five of those seven wins have been shutouts for Tigard, and in the other two games, Tigard gave up just one goal in each.
Tigard is currently ranked at No. 6 in the state, according to Oregon School Activities Association rankings at this point in the season.
The Tigers have been led offensively by senior Claire Masters, who leads the team in goals (9) and assists (4). Masters is one of the few returning players to earn season honors last year, as we she picked as an honorable mention for the All-Three Rivers League team.
Other honorees from last year who are back include senior Kiera Grant, who was named to the All-State Second Team last year as a defender, and was an all-league first team selection, as well. Pender, who is already committed to play collegiately at University of Montana, has 1 goal and 1 assist on the season.
Senior Katia Pender was an All-Three Rivers League Second Team honoree last year as a defender. The University of Oregon-commit has 1 goal and 3 assists this year.
Some other standouts for the Tigers this year include junior Harlyn Tischhauser, who has 3 goals and 2 assists so far, freshman Mia Newton, who has 3 goals and 1 assist, and sophomore Samantha Mao, who has 2 goals and 2 assists.
Sophomore Ella Naser was named an honorable mention for the all-league team last year, and has 1 goal on the year. Junior Bailee Ornelas has 2 goals and an assist, and junior Olivia Jirles has 2 assists. Senior Emma Le has a goal and 2 assists.
Boys Soccer:
The boys soccer team is having its best season in a couple of years before the season even wraps up. The Tigers went 1-12-1 each of the last two seasons, and won five games a season each of the two seasons prior to that.
With three games remaining as of our press deadline, Tigard sits at 5-4-2 and is coming off a tie on the road at Oregon City. Tigard fell behind early, but two goals by sophomore Ulises Trujillo earned the Tigers the hard-fought tie against their Three Rivers League rival.
Trujillo has been a bright spot on offense for the Tigers this season, along with junior James Cure. Those two and sophomore Kellen Hughes were named the teams players of the week for the first two weeks of the season. The team’s honorees for the next two weeks were sophomore Walter Mendenhall, senior Julian Ochoa Navarro, and sophomore Gavin Goodrich.
Also leading the team are a few players who earned honorable mention for the All-Three Rivers League last season. Trujillo was named an honorable mention as a freshman and Navarro earned the honoree as a junior. Current seniors Abraham Serrano and Junior Vargas were also honorable mentions for the all-league team last season.
Boys Water Polo:
With two weeks left in the regular season, the Tigard boys water polo has already surpassed its win total from last year. The Tigers sit at 5-12 so far this year as of our press deadline. Last year, Tigard finished 4-13.
Tigard’s offense has been led primarily by sophomore Micah Haynes and senior Maddox Baxter. Haynes leads the team with 70 points, including 40 assists. He also has 30 goals on the season, and a team-high 80 steals. Haynes’ 40 assists are tied for third most in the state.
Baxter leads the Tigers in goals with 35, and is second in points with 43. Senior Hayden Scott is third on the Tigers in goals with 17, followed closely by junior Daniel Shari, who has 16 goals. Shari is third in overall points with 34. He has 18 assists on the season, tying him with senior Alexander Edwards for second-most on the team.
Senior Kai Takeda is the only other Tiger with double digit goals so far this year with 12.
On defense, Shari leads the team with 43 saves, followed by Baxter (41), freshman Nathan Nice (15), and senior Hayden Scott (14).
Girls Water Polo:
While the Tigard girls water polo team sits at 1-15 so far this year, the Tigers have also surpassed their win total from a year ago. Last year, the girls water polo team went 0-13.
Senior Kirra Richards has been Tigard’s biggest threat on offensive, as she leads the team in goals with 32 and assists with 15. Her 47 total points are also first for the Tigers.
Sophomore Hope Vance and junior Kyree DiNovo are the only other Tigard players with double-digit goals, as Vance has 16 and DiNovo has 14. The two also rank second and third, respectively, in total points. Vance has 23 points on the season, and DiNovo has 20.
Junior Nadia Vinns-Gray and freshman Zoe Keller are tied for second on the team in assists, as both have 10 assists so far this year.
Zeller leads the team with 25 steals, followed by Richards (23), freshman Minh Tran (18), Vance (16), and DiNovo (15).
Girls Cross Country:
In the midseason coaches poll, Tigard’s girls cross-country team was ranked fifth, jumping up from the No. 9 ranking the coaches put Tigard in before the start of the season.
The Tigers opened the season strong with second-place finishes in both the Three Rivers League Preview Meet and the Meriwether Cross Country Classic.
At the Three Rivers Preview, freshman Sophia Service and junior Leah Heidt were the only Tigers in the top 10, with Service coming in fifth and Heidt finishing 10th. Senior Chloe Thompson, sophomore Sydney Joule, and junior Meadow Baxter all scored top-20 finishes for the Tigers, as well.
At the Meriwether meet, Heidt led Tigard with an eighth-place finish. Service and Joule also finished in the top 20 for Tigard.
The Tigard girls finished first in the team rankings at the Bellevue Cross Country Invitational at the end of September. Baxter finished first in her race and junior Makaila Rust finished fourth in that same group. Thompson scored a sixth-place finish and Joule came in ninth in their group for the Tigers. Service and Heidt finished ninth and tenth, respectively, in their group to help the Tigers pick up the first-place finish.
Tigard picked up a win in a dual meet against Tualatin, with Tigard girls placing in nine of the top 11 spots.
Boys Cross Country:
It didn’t take long for the boys cross-country team to show they were ready to compete with other top teams in the region. The Tigard boys finished first in the Three Rivers League Preview Meet to open the year.
A big reason for the strong showing were because Tigard placed three runners in the top four: sophomore Paul Hretcanu finished first, senior Jack McLean came in second, and senior Caleb Cate finished fourth.
The quick start to the year certainly helped Tigard jump up in the midseason coaches poll, where the Tigers were ranked 10th. Coming into the season, Tigard wasn’t ranked in the preseason coaches poll.
Tigard then followed up with a third-place finish at Meriwether. Hretcanu again was Tigard’s top performer with a sixth-place finish. McLean scored a top-20 finish, as well.
In a dual meet with Tualatin, the Tigers picked up the win and had six of the top-10 times.
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