After playing — and winning — in the rain earlier this week, Dayton is rested and prepared for today’s matchup with Riverside in the second round of the OSAA 3A/2A/1A Boys Soccer State Championships. The winner of the game, scheduled for 3 p.m. at Sherwood High School, will advance to Tuesday’s semifinals.

“I think that the guys are confident to play, for sure, one more game, and hopefully three more and we’ll get all the way to the finish with the state title,” coach Jose Cruz said. “After the game Tuesday, we needed to take the day off on Wednesday. People definitely needed to take a break. My son (Jose) mentioned that he was sore in muscles he wasn’t even used to using — the rain put those guys to work hard, and then we had the overtime and everything. But when they came back to practice on Thursday, they were concentrated and focused.”

The Pirates will need to play better than they did against Corbett to get past Riverside. The team finished the season 12-1-2, losing only to 4A power McLoughlin, 2-0. Riverside is one of the more potent offensive teams in the state, scoring 87 goals this season while surrendering only 21. Dayton’s knocked in 68 goals, but also has been incredibly tough defensively, surrendering a matching 21.

Like Dayton, Riverside controlled much of its first-round game, but had trouble finishing on scoring chances. It’s something Cruz knows has to change, and was a focus of practice this week.

“Against Corbett, we were pretty much attacking all the time, and shooting, and it was really hard to get the ball in,” he said. “And then, all of a sudden, a little mistake and the other team is winning. You can have the best game of your life during the contest, but if you don’t score? Well, too bad. You’ve gotta score to move on.”

Cruz added that while he doesn’t know a lot about Riverside, he does know that if they’re still playing, they’re clearly a good team.

“I’ve been told they have a similar style to us,” he said. “It’s about the possession, and whoever is getting the ball is going to create the plays to get the results. And, hopefully, we’re that team.

“At this point, at this level, the team that goes in focused and concentrated about moving on is going to take it.”

The winner will advance to face either Oregon Episcopal or Delphian, which pulled out a first-round upset of Creswell on Tuesday. The Dragons won the game 1-0, when a feed from senior forward Sebastian Gomez drew Creswell’s keeper out from the goal. Freshman Lukas Ott then knocked it past for the winner.

The time and location of the semifinal will likely be decided later this evening, after second-round games have been completed.