ONALASKA — It wasn’t the cleanest outing for Toledo/Winlock United on Friday, but United was able to hold off Onalaska for a 2-1 road victory on Friday evening.
United fell behind almost instantly, as the Loggers immediately went on the attack, and Aksel Iverson drew a foul in the box to set up a penalty kick.
Iverson converted from the spot to put Onalaska up 1-0 just two minutes in.
“We were working on those through balls offensively,” Onalaska coach Luis Magana said. “I was happy to see that on our first play.”
United quickly began aggressively pushing for an equalizer, which led to some mistakes in the midfield. United coach Alan Contreras called out multiple times for his team to relax and calm things down.
Over the next few minutes, they did, and in the 10th minute, Edson Barragan headed home a throw-in from Angel Cruz to tie the game.
“I think that with how hard (the Loggers) were working, it just took us a while to adjust to the game,” Contreras said. “Once we got that goal, I think the kids started to relax and start playing organized together. That eventually helped us leading into the second half.”
United continued to control the game early in the second half, and it drew a foul in the box of its own in the 48th minute. Jonathan Gonzalez Navarro buried the ensuing PK to put United up 2-1.
Over the final 30 minutes, United had the majority of the chances, but it wasn’t able to add on an insurance goal.
Its closest chance at a third came midway through the second half, but Onalaska’s Christofer Jaimes made a point-blank save to keep the deficit at one.
“I was very proud of how he performed today,” Magana said. “He definitely came through for us.”
The scoring opportunities were fewer and further between for the Loggers, but they did have a couple of chances to tie the game. In the final minutes, Aksel had a potential shot from the left side of the box, but two United defenders closed the gap and got the ball away before Aksel could fire it towards the net.
On the ensuing corner kick, the ball was quickly cleared.
“It still wasn’t enough to where we didn’t have to worry,” Contreras said of the 2-1 advantage. “I think that the way we held on to that lead, I was really proud of the boys. They worked hard, they grinded it out, and stayed focused until the end of the game.”
On the other bench, Magana was more than pleased with the effort and growth he saw from his bunch despite the final result.
The Loggers (1-7) picked up their second win in program history earlier this season, and Magana is confident that if they played like they did on Friday against Kalama on Monday, they could add a third.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get the win today, but I really like the culture that we’re building here,” Magana said. “That’s another competitive and winnable game. We’re looking forward to hopefully finally getting a win in front of our fans (this season).”
United (3-3) will head to Seton Catholic on Monday.
Later in the season, on May 1, United will host Onalaska in Winlock in a rematch of Friday’s clash. It will be the second matchup between Contreras and Magana, two coaches who are very familiar with one another.
When Magana was an assistant at United in 2019, Contreras was a player, and together, they reached the state championship game. After spending a few years as an assistant at W.F. West on the girls’ side, Contreras joined Magana’s staff in Onalaska last season before returning to United.
Prior to the game, the two shook hands and reminisced before facing off for the first time.
“It was good to battle it out with him,” Contreras said with a smile. “And it was good to get the win today.”
