‘Relentless’: Stout defense, high-powered offense keeps Sumner soccer rolling
Camryn Brown and Ari Hill are dozen-year soccer veterans, and friends since the age of nine. Now junior standouts at Sumner, the pair remain intact – standing side-by-side last Wednesday at Sunset Stadium when practice commenced.
A night earlier, the Spartans toppled league-rival Curtis, 3-0, pacing the 4A SPSL as the league’s only unbeaten. Hill, Sumner’s star forward, poured in two goals, now at 10 on the season in as many games. Brown, the “defensive anchor,” is a reigning TNT All-Area selection.
Per the WIAA’s ranking of 4A girls soccer programs, no team is better. Informed of the news, head coach Robi Turley oozed sarcasm, laughing. “That’s not a big target, right?”
Sumner may not have expected it a month ago, but they’re suddenly Washington’s team to beat. The Spartans (10-2 overall, 8-1 SPSL 4A) have lost just twice this season, falling to out-of-league No. 3 Union, 2-0, over a month ago on Sept. 13 and losing to rival Puyallup on Oct. 18, 2-0. Sumner beat Puyallup in the first meeting between the teams on Oct. 7, 1-0.
“We play for each other, and if we win, we win,” Hill said. “If we lose, we lose.
“We all love each other a lot. We’re friends. We eat lunch together every day.”
The teamwide relationships extend beyond Brown and Hill – Sumner congregates regularly for group dinners, and if not for the pandemic, would have continued its tradition of an annual summer retreat.
Their formula is both consistent and successful: feed Hill the ball, and let freshman goalkeeper Kennedy Jackson sustain the margin.
Of Sumner’s 12 contests, opponents have scored in only four.
“I knew (Kennedy) was good, but I didn’t know she was that good,” Turley said, laughing.
And Sumner’s head coach dares any opponent to double-team Hill, often leaving junior midfielder Sydney Garonzik wide open. The latter trails only Hill in both goals scored and assists for the team lead.
“I know we can find another way to score,” Turley said. “We have other dangerous weapons. We’re really fast and skilled. We go at teams.”
Turley deemed both “fast and furious.” Hill agreed with her coach’s assessment.
“And we’re physical,” added Sumner’s forward. “We all have lasers (for) feet.”
The Spartans reached last year’s state tournament for the 13th straight season, only to fall to second-ranked Richland, 2-0, in the first round last Nov. 10. They’re perennial state contenders, having made the last 13 brackets.
But Sumner has yet to go beyond the quarterfinals since 2013, back when they won the state title as a 2A program. They last reached the final eight in 2019, falling to eventual-champion Puyallup.
The pandemic extinguished the 2020 tournament, which was both Brown and Hill’s freshman season. Sumner’s latest trip to the state bracket was their first.
“Our freshman year was different,” Brown said. “We didn’t have an actual (tournament). And so last year, getting to go to the first round, (that) was new for us.”
That has only fueled their desire to get back. Oddly enough, the team hasn’t once discussed the prospect of a league title – let alone a trip to the state tournament – but it’s on their mind, not as an aspiration, but an expectation.
Sumner’s goals are instead geared toward the short-term: staying hungry, healthy, and gritty, Brown and Hill insisted.
“Working hard at practice, and being supportive of each other,” the former said. “If we’re not getting down on ourselves during games, it helps us all succeed together.”
To get back to the state championships, they’ll rely on an always-communicative defense, led by Brown and fellow-backs Caroline Calkins and Taylor Mentink. There’s little doubt of the offense’s production, now with multi-goal performances in seven of Sumner’s previous eight games.
Nonetheless, Turley would rather shield her eyes from the state rankings, opting to “take it one game at a time.”
“It’s cool to be ranked No. 1, or be first in the league, but the end is what matters,” she said. “From the (first) whistle, we’re pretty relentless. We start fast, and physically, and on point. There’s no looking back.
“The word ‘relentless’ comes to me.”
