State soccer roundup: Tahoma tops Bellarmine Prep to advance to 4A semifinals
Tahoma High School boys soccer is headed back to the Class 4A state semifinals.
The Bears, who last appeared in the final four at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup back in 2016, secured their return trip Friday evening in Maple Valley with another convincing win, upending defending 4A state champion Bellarmine Prep, 4-1, to advance.
The victory is also one week after the 4A North Puget Sound League champions shut out the Lions, 2-0, to win the 4A West Central/Southwest district title.
“Once you play a team two times, it’s a whole different game, but we came out victorious thankfully,” Tahoma midfielder Ignacio Brandan said.
Bellarmine got on the board first in this second meeting, when Lions midfielder Beaux Akiona fielded a deflection off the Bears’ goalkeeper in the fourth minute, and chipped the rebound into the back of the net to make it 1-0 early.
But, the Bears scored the next four goals.
“Beating any team twice is incredibly difficult, and what I told the boys before the game is that if you play the same soccer and expect the same results, you’re going to be disappointed, we’ve got to play better soccer today,” Tahoma coach Rick Maloy said.
“Giving up a goal early wasn’t the plan we had, but they as a team … picked up their rate of play and their heart and attitude and didn’t let down.”
Tahoma found the equalizer on a corner in the 22nd minute, when midfielder Pablo Flores tapped in a goal following a blocked shot by the Lions’ goalkeeper.
“They came out with a lot of energy, but we adapted very quick,” Brandan said.
Brandan scored the first of his two goals in the 39th minute to give Tahoma the lead for good. He sent a pass out to the right sideline, hustled to the box and moments later headed a cross into the goal.
The score gave Tahoma what turned out to be a decisive 2-1 advantage, but the Bears added two more goals in the second half.
“We’ve always got to keep our head down and just continue to battling, because anything can happen,” Brandan said.
Brandan scored again in the 64th minute on a free kick from about 20 yards out on the left side that skipped into the net to make it 3-1.
Zeth Lucero, Tahoma’s third goal scorer of the contest, tapped in one more off a deflection on a long run with less than two minutes to play to close out the win.
Maloy credits Tahoma’s collective talent as a team as a key to such a successful spring.
“We have a team that’s incredibly dangerous, and that makes us hard to beat,” Maloy said.
“I feel like our trainings and us as a team, we’ve been very, very strong,” Brandan said. “We’re continuing on, and hopefully we can take the state title.”
Tahoma (18-1-1) will enter next weekend’s semifinals on an eight-game winning streak. Bellarmine’s season ends at 13-7-1.
Tahoma plays at 4:30 p.m. next Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup against the winner of Saturday afternoon’s contest between No. 6 Skyline and No. 14 Sumner.
The Bears have already bested both of those programs this season — Skyline, 2-1, in a nonleague contest in March, and Sumner, 2-0, in the first round of the district tournament earlier this month.
3A
No. 1 LINCOLN OF SEATTLE 4, No. 16 NORTH THURSTON 1
Knotted midway, North Thurston pushed the bracket’s top seed to the brink — but Lincoln ran away with a trio of goals in the second half to win Friday’s second-round matchup in the state bracket.
Rams sophomore Damien Rodriguez delivered North Thurston’s score, a first-half equalizer shortly before intermission.
North Thurston clinched its first state berth since 2005. The Rams won a state match on Wednesday in a shutout of No. 17 Monroe, 1-0.
The win pushes Lincoln into Saturday’s state quarterfinal with No. 8 Mount Vernon at 12:30 p.m.
No. 15 LIBERTY (RENTON) 3, No. 2 GIG HARBOR 0
Liberty knocked off undefeated Gig Harbor on Friday night, a surprising road upset that unhinged the season of a top contender.
Liberty entered the unfriendly confines of Roy Anderson Field and posted a shutout, enough for a 3-0 win in the second round of the state tournament.
The bracket is set for a wild stretch Saturday quarterfinals, on paper. Six of eight remaining teams are seeded seventh or lower, thanks to a previous flurry of upsets.
Top-ranked Lincoln of Seattle is the bracket’s only remaining top-three seed, and Gig Harbor’s absence only makes the road to glory that much smoother.
In 20 previous matches, opponents failed to hold undefeated Gig Harbor to a single shutout this season. In those contests, the Tides piled 94 goals (4.7 per game) and allowed just 15 (0.75 goals allowed per game).
Liberty advances to Saturday’s state quarterfinal at Liberty High School and meets No. 7 Lakeside of Seattle at 7 p.m.
No. 12 SOUTHRIDGE 1 (3), No. 5 SILAS 1 (0) — (PK)
Southridge forced extra time with a late score, and later prevailed in penalty kicks to knock Silas out of the state tournament on Friday night.
Following a scoreless overtime, Southridge blocked two of Silas’ three penalty kicks. The other missed wide.
The Suns netted three of four, good for a win in the second round of the 3A bracket. Southridge moves on to Saturday’s quarterfinal against No. 4 Edmonds-Woodway at Edmonds Stadium, set for a 3 p.m. start.
Silas was the 3A PCL champion, owning an undefeated in-league record (11-0-1).
No. 8 MOUNT VERNON 2, No. 9 CENTRAL KITSAP 0
Mount Vernon posted a shutout and handled Central Kitsap in the second round of the 3A state tournament on Friday night.
The Cougars netted a goal in each half. They advance to Saturday’s state quarterfinals and meet top-seeded, still-undefeated Lincoln of Seattle, slated for a 12:30 p.m. start at Interbay Stadium.
MORE SCORES
1A
No. 9 Overlake 1, No. 8 Vashon Island 0
SATURDAY (MAY 20)
4A
No. 8 PUYALLUP 1 (3), No. 1 NEWPORT 1 (1) — (PK)
Goalkeeper Alexis Cruz-Hernandez’s directions were clear and direct — don’t be the savior.
“Just watch and read, watch and read,” coach Matt White told him, moments before Puyallup’s keeper took to defend a penalty shootout.
Locked at one after regulation and a pair of golden-goal overtime periods, Puyallup and top-seed Newport took to penalty kicks, where Cruz-Hernandez could send the Vikings to the state semifinals with a defensive gem. And in the season’s biggest moment, he delivered the best of performances — a trio of critical saves in four tries that pushed Puyallup to victory over the bracket’s favorite.
In the end, Cruz-Hernandez was the savior anyway. Via 3-1 shootout, Puyallup had stunned Newport, and on the road, to boot. Senior midfielder Dean Williams netted a late equalizer in the 69th minute to push the game to extras, and his keeper took care of the rest.
Cruz-Hernandez completed an improbable third save, which deflected off of his hands, then off the crossbar, then again in front him, before falling on the attempt with two hands. Victory was palpable.
“That was just crazy,” White said. “The film is unreal.”
Puyallup midfielder Lucas Foster netted the third and deciding penalty kick, which cued the celebration.
But the Vikings needed to rally just to force extras. Trailing 1-0, senior defender Brady Anderson won an available dribble and went some 40 yards before lifting the ball to midfielder Liam Stoner.
Stoner assisted to Williams over the middle, who drilled the equalizer. It came just four minutes after Newport broke a scoreless tie in the 65th.
“Which shows character, right? When people talk about, ‘sports build character,’ I’m more of the (mindset) that sports reveal your character,” White said. “I mean, you’re going against the number-one team in the state, whose RPI is through the roof, who has one loss. And you go, ‘No no. We can do this.’ And they answer back. That’s awesome.”
The Vikings are officially in the state’s ‘final four.’ Puyallup hosts No. 13 Davis in a 4A semifinal at Sparks Stadium on May 26. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
“We play for the next,” White said. “Whether you score, or get scored on... you play for the next. And they instantly turned and played for the next.”
No. 6 SKYLINE 6, No. 14 SUMNER 1
Sumner’s bid for a state title ended Saturday in a 6-1 defeat to Skyline at Sunset Stadium.
Skyline’s victory in the state quarterfinal pushes the Spartans to a semifinal meeting with No. 2 Tahoma next Friday at Sparks Stadium.
Junior midfielder Ty Brunner netted Sumner’s goal on a free kick which, at the time, cut the deficit to 3-1, per the Sumner News Index.
Four days earlier, Sumner shocked No. 3 Pasco via opening-round shutout, 2-0, to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinal.
Thanks to three upset losses by top-five seeds in the opening round, Sumner was one of four 10th-or-higher seeds remaining in quarterfinal play.
2A
No. 6 PULLMAN 3, No. 3 FRANKLIN PIERCE 0
Pullman’s stout defense blanked Franklin Pierce, good for a 3-0 win in the state quarterfinals on Saturday night.
The Greyhounds are on to the ‘final four’ after an emphatic road win at Franklin Pierce Stadium.
Pullman meets No. 2 North Kitsap next Friday at Renton Memorial Stadium. A trip to the state championship awaits the winner.
Franklin Pierce’s season ends after an undefeated run through the 2A SPSL and a runner-up district finish. The Cardinals ended their regular season on May 5 in grand fashion — a 12-0 rout of league-rival Orting.
This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 10:46 PM.
