Evans scores stoppage-time goal to lift Puyallup to 4A state soccer title

We’ve seen this before.

Inside the friendly confines of Puyallup’s Sparks Stadium, the Vikings were locked in a 1-1 battle with minutes left in regulation and a state title on the line.

With the match approaching its final seconds, the Vikings netted a goal that would clinch a 2-1 victory and state championship.

Last spring, it was Logan Oyama that was the hero for the boys’ season against Mount Si, scoring a last-minute goal that gave the team a state title.

And in what was a hard-fought, physical match Saturday against the Auburn Riverside Ravens, it was Sydney Evans, who scored in stoppage and gave the Puyallup soccer program its second championship in five months.

“Sydney Evans. Did she ever stop working?” Vikings coach Matt White asked after the win. “That kid never, never quits. The attacking line, the back line … I mean come on. [Auburn Riverside had] one loss on the season. They’ve hardly given up any goals, and tonight they gave up two.”

If you referred exclusively to the scoreboard, the game seemed extremely competitive throughout. But Puyallup dominated the time of possession and pressured the Ravens defense, consistently keeping the ball near the Auburn Riverside goal.

In fact, White says the Vikings were unlucky at times in the win, considering their dominant shot margin and quality shots that just wouldn’t sneak in.

“You kind of hope [scoring] goes easier so that I don’t die of a heart attack at the age of 51,” White said. “But, it would appear I’m going to.”

But, in the end, what mattered most was Evans’ goal at the end that ultimately rewarded Puyallup with a 4A state title.

“I was like, ‘I hope Meredith can cross that really fast, because I didn’t know how much time was left,” Evans said. “I was freaking out. I was like, ‘this is the only chance we have.’ And once I shot it … it was so exciting. I was so happy.”

Before Evans scored the deciding goal, forward Kaelee Huetten put the Vikings on the board in the 36th minute after breaking away from the Ravens defense. In a one-on-one battle, Huetten put the ball past the keeper, and Puyallup took a 1-0 lead into halftime.

And though the Vikings dominated the opening minutes of the second half, Auburn Riverside would score an equalizer after Puyallup’s keeper fell in the aftermath of a corner kick. With just twenty minutes remaining in the match, it was tied.

Coach White knew, however, that his team wouldn’t be fazed by a goal the Vikings had no intention of allowing.

“We gave up the goal, and I looked at the bench,” White said. “I didn’t even have to say it. ‘Play for the next! Play for the next!’ And the game just turned on its head again. [We] got control of [the game] again, and went back at them.”

‘Playing for the next’ is a mantra the entire Puyallup soccer program lives by.

Part of that mantra, according to White, is waiting to celebrate until you’re holding up the state championship trophy.

“It doesn’t matter if you score or get scored on. If you’re worried about what just happened, or celebrating what just happened, nothing’s done. You’ve got to do the next thing.”

When Auburn Riverside took the field Saturday, they had 98 goals on the season.

“Earlier in the season, our goal was to set a new scoring record for the school, which was 59 goals,” said Ravens coach Paul Lewis. “We [had our] 60th against Enumclaw. Today, I wrote up on the whiteboard 98. And I said, ‘lets get 100.’ If we just could’ve got to 100, we’d still be playing right now. We were just one goal short. We got to 99.

“Tremendous offensive effort by Puyallup. There were some really strong shooters and they put us under pressure. We got all the way here and we’ve only given up 12 goals this season, I think. I wish we had only given up 11.”