After runner-up state finish in 2019, Auburn Riverside soccer motivated for run at 3A crown

Last week, Paul Lewis turned to his goalkeeper, Rory Murry, with a realization.

A sophomore at Auburn Riverside High School, Murry allowed just 0.25 goals per game last season as a freshman. Lewis looked at her, and said, “Rory, this is your second year in high school, and you still haven’t lost a game.”

Murry looked back at her coach, cracked a smile, and with that same sense of realization, said, “Oh, yeah.”

It was a nonchalant response that underscored the Ravens’ success over a pandemic-shortened spring and undefeated 6-0 start this fall. That success is a snowball effect, said Lewis, Auburn Riverside’s coach.

They’re a confident bunch, and they’re marking their calendars and clearing their schedules. Before the season began, some players asked Lewis for the dates of the state semifinal and title games.

“I like your positivity,” Lewis told his team, “but let’s take care of these games first.”

There’s a sense of unfinished business for the Ravens. In 2019, Auburn Riverside lost the 4A state title game to Puyallup on a last-minute goal in stoppage time. In that season, they allowed just 12 goals.

“I wish we had only given up 11,” Lewis said in the moments after the loss nearly two years ago.

Auburn Riverside’s team looks different now — and they’ve moved to a 3A classification — but after a playoff-less spring slate prevented a title run earlier this year, the revenge tour is back on.

Senior forward Kiana Gutierrez played in that gut-wrenching championship game. It was her sophomore year, and since then, her focus narrowed on a return to the tournament. The game was an eye-opener, she said. It’s been her goal to avenge the loss.

“All of us want to get back into that state mentality,” Gutierrez said. “I think it’s really important for us to make that tournament and prove ourselves. We’ve proven ourselves over and over again.

“Staying positive, not looking at the negative, working together, communicating ... I think all of that will play a very big role in us getting to state again.”

Samiah Shell, a junior forward opposite Gutierrez, led the NPSL in scoring last season. They combine for a top-of-the-league scoring duo that heads the Ravens’ attack and leaves opposing teams scratching their heads.

Shell and Gutierrez have an out-of-the-ordinary personal competition, considering their position: who can assist the other more.

“They’re happy (for each other),” Lewis said. “They’ve been the best thing for each other, as far as being providers.

“If you do focus a ton of attention on them, they’re more than happy to deliver the ball to a teammate.”

That’s the issue that leaves many opposing defenses scattered. In a rivalry matchup with Auburn Mountainview on Sept. 23, the Lions rolled out their best defender to cover Shell.

That left Gutierrez open, and the defense vulnerable.

“They have to choose,” Lewis said. “If you’re going to focus your attention with (Samiah), you’re leaving more space open for Kiana. It creates opportunities.”

The Ravens have scored 31 goals in six games this season. They’ve allowed just three in return, and if you asked Auburn Riverside’s defenders, it’d be three goals too many.

McKenzie Emmons is a senior center-back for the Ravens. She’s the silent, steady leader, Lewis said. She’s the teacher of the group.

When Emmons and the Ravens defense lock down opposing offenses, it makes the jobs of Shell and Guiterrez easier, Lewis said. They can take more chances, and the pressure is off.

But that statement works both ways. When the offense lights up the scoreboard, the defense can relax.

“We’re able to communicate so well,” Emmons said. “(We) just love being around each other. We all love being around each other and in (each other’s) presence, and it just makes the soccer part easier.”

Emmons, in four years at Auburn Riverside, has lost a total of five games. Shell, a junior, has lost two, and of those two, only played in one.

“We’re out here working not just for ourselves but for our teammates,” Shell said. “Like our coach says, iron sharpens iron. I’m not here to goof off. Although days may be hard, school may be tough, soccer is our free place, and we’re here to make each other stronger.”

No player’s efforts go unnoticed, Gutierrez said Monday. It’s going to take a team effort if the Ravens want to return to the title game. There’s going to be “bumps and bruises” along the way, but they’re learning as they go.

It’s worked so far.

“It was within the last minute of extra time in the game when (Puyallup) scored that goal,” Lewis said of the 2019 title game.

“There’s visions of golden trophies in our heads.”