Crusaders come up short in soccer final
The Tacoma Baptist Crusaders faced the senior-filled St. George’s Dragons in the 1B/2B boys state soccer final Saturday at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner.
The Crusaders played tough, but it wasn’t enough as the Dragons of Spokane won the title, 2-0.
St. George’s ruled the field and maintained possession and control throughout, outshooting the Crusaders, 27-6.
“That percentage has been a theme for us,” said St. George’s coach Heidi Melville. “Our defense has been solid all year.”
The pressure was on the entire way for sophomore Crusaders goalkeeper PJ Talen, who made 14 saves.
“We’ve been saying it all year, he’s a great athlete; we couldn’t be prouder of his performance,” said Tacoma Baptist coach Jenna Jones.
Saturday’s performance says a lot for Talen as he has been playing soccer for only two years. Talen seemed surprised at how many shots came his way.
“I had faith in my team, they played hard, they really worked their butts off. I just try and give them my all every practice, every game,” said Talen.
Senior midfielder Stow Miller scored both Dragons goals. Miller flashed past the Crusaders defense and booted it past the keeper in the 20th minute and in the 72nd minute.
“Stow plays that way day in and day out,” Melville said. “He is huge for this team.”
With 10 seniors, it seemed to be championship or bust for St. George’s. The Dragons’ defensive pressure was the X-factor.
Melville said: “I’m relieved; we have a big group of seniors. This is exactly how the story should end.”
Crosspoint 2, Mount Vernon Christian 0: The Warriors took third place in the state tournament by maintaining constant pressure on a stout Hurricanes’ defense.
This is the Warriors’ first state trophy in school history.
“We rose to the challenge,” said coach Keith Sargent. “We took advantage of the openings they gave us. We were constantly trying to get Jackson (Kimmel) the ball on the right side. He kept burning them on runs; he was dead tired at the end.”
Junior midfielder Lance Humphries scored the first goal for Crosspoint in the 30th minute. The score remained 1-0 for the vast majority of the match until an exhausted Kimmel found an extra spark, darting down the field and hammering a shot into the back of the net in the 80th minute.
Both Warriors’ goals were assisted by sophomore defender Nate Cash.
Crosspoint led in total shots taken, 21-17.
CLASS 1B/2B GIRLS
Okanogan 3, Crosspoint 0: There is a new state champion as the Bulldogs bulldozed over the previous back-to-back champs, the Warriors.
Junior midfielder Jill Townsend scored all of the goals for the Bulldogs in the first half (ninth minute, 13th minute and the 25th minute).
Okanogan controlled the pace as its offense seemed to be in Warriors’ territory longer than it took the Bulldogs to arrive in Sumner.
“It felt pretty good,” said Townsend. “We knew we wanted to come out and punch them in the face a little, get up early. Yesterday was yesterday, we knew me had one more game and we came out and got it done.”
Townsend was referencing the Bulldogs’ win Friday against Adna in which she also played goalkeeper during the shootout.
This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Crusaders come up short in soccer final."