Lakeridge boys soccer wants to win it all

Published 11:06 pm Sunday, October 25, 2026

The Lakeridge boys soccer team has been checking all the boxes this year.

Win the Three Rivers League? Check.

Go unbeaten again in TRL play? Check.

Move near the top of the polls/rankings? Check yet again.

But there’s one big box that’s yet to be filled out — can the Pacers win the Class 6A state championship again in 2026?

Lakeridge (5-0-0 in Three Rivers League play, 12-1-1 overall) has won two 6A titles in the past 10 years, and among Oregon’s 47 big schools, only Jesuit has more (three).

But can the Pacers win again?

What the players say

“Of course our main goal is winning state, but we are focused on each game ahead of us,” said Lakeridge senior defender and team captain Pablo Spilk. “We are looking to keep stacking solid performances, continue playing each game like it’s the state championship.”

“Our goal is to … bring the state championship back to Lakeridge, and that will be done with the level of togetherness that we show,” said Pacer senior goalkeeper and team captain Collin Cernitz.

“Our biggest goals are to win the Three Rivers League and make a deep playoff run,” added senior midfielder and forward Liam Kutella, another team captain. “We want to keep improving and maintain our standard of being the hardest-working team on the field every game.”

“The whole team has the same goal — we all want to hold that trophy at the end of the year,” added senior forward and team captain Callum Morrison.

What they’ve accomplished

The 2026 version of the Pacers hasn’t been perfect this fall, but they’ve come pretty darn close.

During their non-league schedule, they went 7-1-1 and beat the three top-10 teams they played, including No. 1 Metro League champion Jesuit (2-1 on Sept. 1), No. 6 Grant (1-0 on Sept. 10) and No. 5 Beaverton (3-1 on Sept. 16).

In Three Rivers League play, Lakeridge went unbeaten for the fifth straight year, extended their TRL winning streak to 25 games (their last loss came to Tualatin on Oct. 20, 2021), and rose to third in the 6A statewide coaches poll and fourth in the Oregon School Activities Association power rankings.

What’s next

Thanks to their top-four finish in the OSAA power rankings, the Pacers will get a bye in the first round of the 6A state playoffs, then will host either No. 13 McKay or the No. 20 team in the state in second-round action at Lakeridge High School on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

From there, the Pacers would need to win four games to claim the state championship, including a potential rematch against No. 1 Jesuit in the state semifinals on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

The stats

Through Lakeridge’s first 22 games, here’s a look at the Pacers’ statistical leaders.

Junior forward Jackson Romero and senior forward Zavier Lara led the Pacers in scoring with 12 goals each, while both Kutella and junior Nate Pasek have five goals apiece.
Morrison leads Lakeridge with five assists, while both Lara and junior Leo Van Driesche have added four apiece.
Cernitz and the Pacers’ defense have notched five shutouts in 2026 — including four in the past month — and allowed just over one goal per game.

The last word

“What we need to do to achieve [our biggest goals] is to make sure through difficult times, we stay connected as a team and are bringing each other up, no matter what gets thrown our way,” Lara said.

“If we can consistently meet our standards and play for each other, I think we’ll put ourselves in a great position to achieve [our] goals,” Kutella said.

“The keys are going to be togetherness and relentlessness,” Morrison said. “There are a lot of good teams in the state, so we are going to need to show that we want it the most every time we step on the field.”

“We know we have the talent,” Cernitz added. “We just have to play together and be the hardest-working team on the field and we know we can reach these goals.”