By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– in the 38th minute, 2023 North Salem-grad and Chemeketa Community College sophomore Joshua Vargas was mentally preparing himself for a penalty kick attempt during Saturday afternoon’s NWAC South Region game with Portland Community College.
In these situations, facing a PK, it’s guessed and hopefully will check out.
And for the kid known as Yoshi, a nickname given to him during his childhood, he gobbled up the shot as his guess on where the ball checked out. As he went diving to his left, catching the ball for the crucial save in a game where the two programs tied at zero.
“I had a feeling where he was going. I just fully committed, and after the save, it was just amazing. The fans are here. We’re home, and it felt great,” said Vargas. “It’s tough competition. Coming back at it in the second year, I’m feeling great.
“With the saves, especially with that penalty happening, my team was encouraging to go out there. We had our chances second half, they had their chances as well. This game is about who capitalizes first.”
The Panthers made Vargas work to keep the shutout in check. PCC had their chance, plenty of them, but Vargas had his defense prepared on every corner and free kick as well as any drives that the Panthers might have had in the game.
“PCC is a pretty hard team, I tried to organize my backline as much as I could. We made some mistakes, but I fixed it. Overall, it was a good game, especially for me and the team. I knew we tied, but it could’ve been either side too,” Vargas said.
Vargas had eight saves in the 0-0 game. Both teams were pretty uniformed in their Shot On Goal with Portland collecting ten shots to nine of the Storm.
Finishing those chances have been the kryptonite of Chemeketa this season, but it is something they are continuing to work on going into Saturday’s home game with Klamath on October 4.
“As a team, we’re a lot better than we were last year. I think it’s just that finishing touch. Scoring that goal, that’s pretty much it, said Vargas.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
