In a defensive game, one with closes chances and even closer misses, the Sumner High School girls soccer team’s season-ending 2-1 loss came down to West Valley’s goal from Lauryn Peters that sealed the 3A state quarterfinal win for the Rams.
“We practice those restart plays, and knowing I had the wind with me, I thought I could put a good shot on the goal,” said Peters of her game-tying 50 yard goal off of a free kick.
At the time, it didn’t look like the most crucial situation as Peters lined up for her free kick in the 29th minute.
With the wind whipping at her back, the senior defender blasted a low shot that carried just out of Spartan goalie Sydney Green’s reach and into the back of the net.
“She put a boot on that shot, and she’s the smallest kid on the field,” West Valley coach John Schubert said. “That’s her ninth goal of the season and six of them are off restarts. That thing was flying.”
The goal tied the game, which the Rams hung on through the second half and through two periods of overtime to force a shootout.
“We needed that goal, we wouldn’t been able to get to a shootout,” Schubert said. “We couldn’t penetrate their defense.”
Jordan Karnes sealed the win in the shootout, 4-1, as the Rams (18-2) advance to play Hanford — which knocked out Kentridge, 1-0 — in the state semifinals at 8 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium.
Soccer can be cruel, and Sumner (13-6-1) can attest to that after dominating most of the match against West Valley.
“We knew it was going to be a defensive battle as we’ve only given up 12 goals (all season), and they’ve only given up six,” Sumner coach Robi Turley said. “We knew it was going to come down to set-pieces. As you saw, a free-kick, a PK – those were all set plays.”
Minutes into the game, Samantha Larberg cut into the Rams penalty box, and a hard tackle by West Valley gave Sumner a penalty kick.
Jordan Thompson, a University of Gonzaga commit, put away the goal giving Sumner a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute on the PK and the Spartans were rolling.
Until those overtime PKs.
“Losing in PK’s is always a bad way to lose, but hats off to West Valley,” said Thompson who stopped five of the Rams’ chances in the first half. “It was a good run.”
Anytime West Valley got close to Sumner’s goal, Thompson parried their attempt and put the Spartans right back on attack.
It looked like nothing could penetrate the Spartan’s defense
“That center back they have (Thompson) – she’s a tough nut to crack,” Schubert said. “We were lucky to get the restart close enough for Lauryn to put it on frame. Then we knew we just had to hang on for a shootout.”
Instead of figuring out how to beat Thompson, they instead found a way to get a goal by going around the Spartan standout.
“Just watching her (Peters) shot start to travel, and once it caught the wind, it just seemed to carry where Sydney (Green) couldn’t do anything about even if she was 7-feet tall,” Thompson said.
The last time Sumner met West Valley of Yakima in the playoffs was three years ago when both teams were still in the 2A classification. The Spartans won a 1-0 game and went on to win the state title that year.
Hanford 1, Kentridge 0: The Chargers fired 13 shots on goal in the second half, but none led to the equalizing goal.
Hanford’s Dani Mendoza broke the scoreless tie in the 20th minute off a free kick and the Falcons immediately went into defense mode, packing 10 players within 20 yards of their own goal.
“It was exceptionally frustrating,” Kentridge coach Sherri Rolfs said. “We were massively dominating and they were scrambling and kept booting it out. We just didn’t get it in the net.”
Kentridge’s Sophia Chilzcuk had a shot fire off the post with nine minutes remaining.
Rolfs credited much of Hanford’s defense to its goalkeeper, Kelsee Winston, who was the Mid-Columbia Conference’s player of the year.
“We believed that if we just kept going we would eventually win this match,” Rolfs said. “It’s cruel, cruel game.”
CLASS 2A
Archbishop Murphy 2, Fife 1: Taylor Goodpaster’s 35th-minute goal gave the Trojans a 1-0 lead.
But the Wildcats fired two unanswered goals, including the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining, to end Fife’s season in the 2A state quarterfinals.
CLASS 1A
King’s 4, Cascade Christian 0: The Knight’s advanced to the Class 1A quarterfinals after handing Nisqually League champions Cougars a decisive loss in the nightcap game at Sunset Chev Stadium.
King’s (18-1-2) will play the winner of the Interlake-Overlake game next Friday at Shoreline Stadium. Cascade Christian’s (17-1-1) undefeated season comes to an end with the loss.
2B/1B BOYS
Tacoma Baptist 3, Life Christian 1: The Crusaders are headed back to the state semifinals.
They built a two-goal lead in the first half behind scores from Daw Von Barnau Sythoff and Ryan Ratliff and held on from there to beat the Eagles at Curtis High School.
Tacoma Baptist advances to face Crosspoint at 6 p.m. Friday at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner for the state semifinals. It lost to Saint George’s in last year’s semis.
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