Grant Union's Eli McClure (left) and Alejandro Espinoza of Umatilla meet at midfield in a match at John Day Sept. 16. The Eagle/DAVID CARKHUFF

Umatilla def. Grant Union 3-0

JOHN DAY – The first league game of the 2003 Mountain West Conference soccer season on Tuesday, Sept. 16, was not an easy one for Grant Union as the Prospectors found themselves matched up against Umatilla, one of the top Class 2A teams in the state.

Early-season polls predicted the Vikings and the Prospectors would be battling for the Mountain West championship and if Tuesday’s match was any indication of things to come, this year should be an exciting one for soccer fans.

Unfortunately for Grant Union, the first of three regular season meetings between the two teams went Umatilla’s way as the Vikings recorded a 3-0 shutout victory.

“We made some mistakes early in the match, but we were able to make adjustments and played much better in the second half,” Grant Union coach Ken Purnell said. “We came out today to find out if we could play with them and I think we found out we could.”

The Vikings (3-0-1) went right to work in the first two minutes of the match putting pressure on Prospector goal keeper Cody Boyer.

Umatilla had several chances to score before Gilibaldo Coria was finally able to put the ball in the net on an unassisted goal for a 1-0 Umatilla lead.

Aqil Kerimov made the score 2-0 at the 13-minute mark of the first half after Alejandro Espinoza’s high shot hit the left upright above Boyer’s head.

The ball dropped straight down in the goal crease and Espinoza booted it in the lower right corner of the net for the second goal of the match.

A hard shot hit Boyer in the chest at the 19-minute mark and Pablo Coria tallied what was to be the final goal of the match on the rebound.

Kevin Percy scored what appeared to be a goal for the Prospectors at the 23-minute mark, only to have the goal waived off by the officials due to an offside penalty. Grant Union (1-2) had several scoring opportunities in the second half, but were unable to put the ball past Viking goalkeeper Francisco Valencia.

“We had opportunities to score, what we have to do is a better job of getting to the ball when we put it on goal,” Purnell said. “We have to look at what we did in today’s match and work to make ourselves better.”

Grant Union out-shot Umatilla 26-25 in the match.

Sisters def. Grant Union 8-3

JOHN DAY – Sisters dominated the action in the second half of play and rolled to an 8-3 victory over Grant Union in a non-league soccer match on Thursday, Sept. 18.

The loss dropped the Prospectors’ season record to 1-3.

Brody Coxen got things going for Grant Union at the 4-minute mark of the first half trickling a shot past Outlaw goalkeeper Will Mennesson for a 1-0 lead.

After that, Pat Bryan went to work for Sisters.

Bryan tied the game with a header off a corner kick which beat Prospector goalkeeper Cody Boyer at the 10-minute mark to knot the score, and then gave the Outlaws a 2-1 lead 4 minutes later off a feed from Riley Newport.

Bryan made the score 3-1 at the 26-minute mark booting a goal past Boyer who had come out of the goal crease to make a save.

Down by a pair of goals, the Prospectors got aggressive at the offensive end of the field and a penalty kick by Kerry Ashmead at the 31-minute mark made the score 3-2.

Ashmead then fed teammate Kevin Percy a pass from left to right across the goal crease and Percy beat Mennesson with a shot in the lower right corner of the net to tie the score once again with 9 minutes remaining in the half.

In the waning moments of the first half, the Outlaws took the lead to stay on goals by Rodney Helwig and a penalty kick by Morgan Mansker to hold a 5-3 halftime advantage.

Sisters dominated the action in the second half choking off Grant Union’s offense while putting three additional goals in the net.

Matt Reuttgers collected the first one 12 minutes into the half and a deflection off Josh Arnall’s head 2 minutes later made the score 7-3.

Ellis Raman tallied the final goal of the match on a penalty kick.

The Prospectors had an opportunity to score early in the second half on a pair of Ashmead penalty kicks, but Mennesson tipped away the first attempt while the second try went high over the crossbar.

Sisters out-shot Grant Union 27-23 in the match.

Grant Union 1, Sunnyside Christian 1

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. – The Grant Union High School soccer team battled Sunnyside Christian to a 1-1 tie in a non-league soccer match on Friday, Sept. 19.

Sunnyside scored in the first three minutes of the opening half to take the lead and held the Prospectors scoreless until a Lucas Burton goal with five minutes remaining in the match tied the score.

“We played a very good match and out-shot them 26-7,” Grant Union coach Ken Purnell said. “The only thing we didn’t do is put the ball in the net.”

Trout Lake 3, Grant Union 2

TROUT LAKE, Wash. – Grant Union held an early 2-1 halftime advantage over unbeaten Trout Lake in a Saturday, Sept. 20, soccer match before the Washington squad was able to come back with a pair of goals in the second half to pull out a 3-2 victory.

“This was the first time anyone has scored on Trout Lake this season,” Purnell said. “They have a good team and I thought we played a real good match against them.”

Kerry Ashmead scored both goals for the Prospectors.

Grant Union (1-4-1) hosted Burns in a non-league match on Tuesday, Sept. 23; the results were not available at presstime. The team travels to Baker City for another non-league match against the Bulldogs on Tuesday, Sept. 30.