Marshfield boys blank Siuslaw 4-0 in Vikings' varsity soccer debut
Mar. 6—COOS BAY — Marshfield's boys soccer team has raised its level of expectation after three straight playoff trips.
The Pirates opened Sky-Em League play with a solid win at Junction City and entered Thursday's home contest against Siuslaw with similar hopes, especially given that the Vikings were playing their first-ever varsity match.
Marshfield won, shutting out Siuslaw 4-0, but it wasn't the dominant match the Pirates might have been expecting.
"We could have done better in everything," said Alberto Castillo, who scored Marshfield's first two goals. "We came out here expecting to do better."
The Pirates did enough for their second straight win to start the season.
Siuslaw's defense stymied the Pirates for much of the first half. Castillo headed in a crossing pass from Jonah Putman in the 15th minute, but Marshfield didn't score again in the opening 40 minutes.
The Pirates finally broke through in the second half.
Castillo scored off another assist from Putman in the 47th minute and Jose Yanez-Torres converted a penalty kick after a foul in the box in the 61st minute. Putman completed the scoring with an attack from the left side in the 68th minute.
It was a strong first home match for Putman, one of five freshmen on Marshfield's roster.
"He's a pretty good player," Castillo said.
Marshfield coach Drew Jones said his initial reaction was one of frustration, but that he needed to take time for a more realistic assessment.
"In context, it's not as bad as what's going through my mind," he said. "We've had one week of training. We had a tough road game Tuesday. Junction City was physical. And we hadn't been on a turf field."
On the bright side, Marshfield had a number of good scoring opportunities, though most came up empty.
"Hats off to Siuslaw," Jones said. "What they do, they do well. They are looking good. They're fit. They're athletic. They are building the right way.
"They gave us a heck of a run."
The Vikings had a tough task to start, coach Londi Tomaro said.
"Marshfield has a strong team," she said. "It was definitely a good experience for us."
Siuslaw started a program from the ground up — Florence didn't have a youth soccer feeder program until 2016, Tomaro said. The squad played a junior varsity schedule the past two seasons, losing all six games their first season and going undefeated their second, two ties and the rest victories.
She has high hopes for a squad with just one senior.
"We definitely have room to grow," she said.
Marshfield looks to keep improving, too, as the Pirates aim for a possible league title.
The Pirates are at Elmira on Tuesday and Cottage Grove on Thursday and then have just one more road match, the second contest with Siuslaw in Florence on March 23.
"We want to get better every game," Castillo said.
NORTH BEND 6, COQUILLE 1: The Bulldogs won their season opener against the visiting Coquille-Myrtle Point club Thursday.
Spenser Barker had a hat trick for the Bulldogs, who also got goals by Steen Lua and Drew Phillips and benefitted from an own goal by the DevilCats.
"I thought Barker had a solid performance tonight," North Bend coach Dustin Hood said. "Daylen Brown is so quick on defense that he was able to effectively stop the counter attack."
Godfred Amonoo scored for Coquille, which was playing a game for the second straight day after falling to Brookings-Harbor 8-0 a day earlier.
"It was good to see the guys out there again, knocking the ball around and having a good time," Hood said.
