Mead Girls Get Goal In Second Overtime To Move On To State
State soccer
A kick, a flick and the Mead Panthers are rolling to state.
Natalie Kehl scored in the second overtime to lift Mead to a 1-0 win over Ferris at Albi Stadium Saturday.
The Panthers (18-1) advance to the Final Four of the State 4A girls soccer playoffs next weekend, facing Columbia River (14-2-2) at 6 p.m. Friday at Federal Way Stadium.
“Morgan Bennett had an indirect kick to me, and I flicked it to the near post,” Stacy Drollinger said.
Kehl trapped the ball with Ferris goalkeeper Jessica Froelich on her shoulder, spun around and rolled it into the far corner 1 minute, 47 seconds before a potential shootout.
“The main key for us is we knew we were controlling, but we had to finish,” Mead coach Travis Hanson said. “The other thing we tried to do is put more numbers in the attack.”
The Panthers had three more good scoring opportunities but kicked the ball over the goal in the first half, shot right at Froelich on a breakaway in the second and were robbed by a defender who cleared the ball away from the goal line when Froelich was caught away from the net.
“We weren’t getting the breaks,” Kehl, a senior forward, said.
Mead beat Ferris in a non-league game and again during the GSL season but lost to the Saxons in the District 8 title game.
“If we would have beaten them the third time, I think we would have lost today,” Drollinger said. “I think we would have been overconfident. It helped with the character of our team, we weren’t too cocky, it put us back in our place.”
WV-Yakima 2, EV-Spokane 0
The Rams (18-0-1) scored two goals in the final 20 minutes to eliminate the Knights (12-6-1) in the State 3A playoffs at East Valley.
Gretchen Heizen sent a drop pass to Christy Messenger, who connected from 15 yards out 21 minutes into the second half. EV hung on but had a hard time mounting an attack because WV put on so much pressure.
WV had a 13-6 shooting edge and iced the game on a penalty shot by Andrea Stenberg in the final minute.
Riverside 6, EV-Yakima 1
Larissa Mueller scored three goals and Bernice Stime scored twice to send the Rams (18-0) to the first-ever State 2A Final Four.
Mueller scored less than 4 minutes into the game and Stime added two more goals in the first half.
The Rams outshot EV 18-8 and shut down Brianne Carmody, the visiting Red Devils’ best offensive threat, thanks to Jamie Baker’s marking defense.
The Rams play Othello Friday at Federal Way Stadium.
St. George’s 6, NW Christian 0
Eric Johnson knocked in a header from 18 yards on an assist from Dan Dhillon 17 minutes into the game and the Dragons rolled into the 1A/B boys final four.
Johnson, a junior, capped the scoring with his 15th goal.
, DataTimes