HILLSBORO – La Salle Prep senior Vance Sheffield might not have ended his illustrious high school soccer career with a goal Saturday at Hillsboro Stadium.
Still, the state’s No. 2 all-time leading scorer turned out to be the difference in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A final, drawing two second-half penalty kicks that were converted by senior Conor Garvey as the No. 2 Falcons came back to defeat No. 1 Summit 2-1.
“When you’re getting marked, you find other ways to score,” said Sheffield, who has 102 career goals, 29 this season. “Just creating, doing moves, moving off the ball. That’s just what I did.”
Sheffield drew the first penalty kick on a shove in the back in the 53rd minute. He drew the second when he was taken down in the box while trying to square up a left-footed shot in the 79th minute.
Garvey came through in his role as the team’s designated penalty-kick shooter, knocking both free shots past Summit senior Lucas Carter.
“I’ve got to do it for Vance. He drew two of them,” Garvey said. “He gave me the assist. I had to put it in the back of the net.”
Sheffield said of Garvey: ‘I”m so proud of him for being the man of the match, That’s my guy.”
La Salle Prep coach Monty Hawkins said that Garvey “is our clinician with finishing penalty kicks.” with 1:29 on the clock, he stood up to the pressure and calmly put the Falcons ahead.
“I love it. I love it,” Garvey said. “Give the ball to me. I want to be the one taking the pens. We’ve had that throughout practices. I knew I was going to be the one.”
Summit, which beat La Salle Prep 2-1 in the semifinals last year on its way to the state title, took a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.
Junior Jack Mitchell‘s corner kick made its way to the far side to senior Ethan Wheeler, who redirected it in front of the goal, where senior Kaden Roskowski hit a soft header that looped over the reach of senior goalkeeper Adam Clem. It was Roskowski’s team-leading 17th goal of the season.
After the Falcons made it 1-1, the game appeared headed to overtime. Summit nearly took the lead in the 78th minute when Roskowski fired straightaway from about 40 yards and the ball hit high off the crossbar.
“He’s averaged one crossbar a game,” Summit coach Tom Bunnell said of Roskowski. “That’s just incredible because it’s happened to him every single game. Such a bummer for him.”
About one minute later, Sheffield drew the second penalty kick.
“They put numbers on him, and he found a way through,” Hawkins said. “He was marked heavily, he was under incredible pressure. He found a way to impact the game. He’s going to be missed.”
La Salle Prep bounced back from starting the season 1-4-1 to finish with a 13-5-1 record.
“It’s an incredible journey for this group,” Hawkins said. “Rough start and an incredible finish.”
Said Garvey: “This group had grit. Coming into the season, I had my doubts. … It’s great to see us come together like this.”
It is the third title in four postseasons for the Falcons, who also won in 2019 and 2021.
“Just being on the field where I won it my freshman year, it’s emotional,” Sheffield said.
Sheffield said he is sorting through his college soccer opportunities.
“I’m looking at a few schools,” Sheffield said. “I want to stay somewhere close to home. Portland and Gonzaga are my dream schools, but we’ll see what happens.”
Summit, which won the 6A title in 2021, was going for its third championship in four seasons. The Storm (15-3-1) made it back to the final despite graduating 11 players from last year’s team.
“Tough game,” Bunnell said. “They’re big and they’re high pressure and we were just trying to counter them. We did a good job of it. We had opportunities, for sure. So did they. I’m super happy with the way we played. We kept fighting.
“To lose on two penalties, it’s disgusting. That’s soccer.”
