By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
April 23, 2008

It was freezing cold, snow and rain swirled from the skies, and they could barely feel their hands and feet. But for a few minutes, none of that mattered for the Hood River Valley girls lacrosse team.

In a year that was largely supposed to be a learning year, the Eagles were supposed to learn how to hang with the more experienced teams in Oregon lacrosse, but not to be beating them.

Apparently they didn’t get the memo.

The Eagles scored four unanswered goals in the final 16 minutes of the game to upset the Grant Generals 8-6 Friday evening.

Grant, the third best team in the Portland Interscholastic league behind state powerhouses St. Mary’s and Oregon Episcopal, had a three-game winning streak snapped by the Eagles, who have now won back-to-back games.

“This was huge,” Eagle coach Margaret Koenig said as her players scrambled for cover after the game.

Her mood had not dimmed on Monday after the Eagles had a few days to dry off.

“They are gaining in confidence,” she said. “They are getting more aggressive and hungry for the ball.”

The Eagles rallied back from a one-goal deficit at halftime, which Grant extended to two goals in the opening minutes of the second half, but then the Grant offense, unlike the field, dried up.

After Grant scored its final goal of the contest with just under five minutes to play, HRV went on a roll.

Audrey Mallon got the Eagles started when she took a pass from Jen Hanners and put it in to pull the Eagles to within one. Morgan Nance followed four minutes later with a score to tie it, and the Eagles went ahead when Hanners scored minutes later. Mallon put the game out of reach with her third goal of the game in the final minutes.

The victory over an established opponent gave the Eagles plenty of reason to celebrate.

“We were so excited,” Hanners said. “That was a big win for us.”

The Eagles also got strong efforts on the defensive side of the ball, highlighted by Tory Ratliff, Kymee Costello and Amy Baggett and another good showing by Leah Hodson in goal.

Ratliff and Costello stifled the Grant offense as the Eagles surged back, and Costello came up with three key interceptions. Baggett helped to give the Eagles the edge in ground ball pickups.

The win pushed the Eagles’ season record to 6-4, and has them believing that even though they may not be able to beat the powerhouses like Lakeridge and West Linn in their league, they can certainly hang with them.

“We have several players who can play at the same level as those teams,” Hanners said. “We just all need to go out and try our best.”

The Eagles were scheduled to travel to Lakeridge on Tuesday and then face Lake Oswego at home on Friday.