Mead bests G-Prep for district soccer title
Mead kept going back to the corner kick until it got it right.
That persistence paid off in a big way Tuesday when Jami Hegg scored off a corner kick deflection in the 76th minute to give the Panthers a 3-2 girls soccer win over Gonzaga Prep in the District 8 4A title match at Albi Stadium.
Hegg’s goal, which settled a showdown between the Greater Spokane League’s top two teams, earned Mead (14-1) the league’s No. 1 seed and the right to host Saturday’s first-round regional playoff against Southridge (14-4), the No. 3 seed from the Columbia Basin League. That game, according to Mead coach Steven Snider, will probably be played at Albi at a time yet to be determined.
G-Prep (13-3), as the No. 2 seed, must travel to Kamiakin on Saturday to take on the CBL’s No. 2 seed.
Pasco, the Columbia Basin’s No. 1 seed, plays No. 4 Richland, a 3-1 winner over Eastmont on Tuesday, in the other first-round regional game.
“It’s huge,” Snider said of Mead earning home-field advantage for regionals. “Of course, if you’d have asked me, and we were on the (losing) side, I’d have said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to beat them either way.’ But it’s nice to stay home.”
Hegg, a junior defender who also set up the match’s first goal with an assist to Morgan Fryman 19 minutes in, scored her winner by taking the deflection from the last in a series of late second-half Mead corner kicks and scoring on a shot just inside the upper left corner of the net.
“We had a bunch of corner kicks, and I was fortunate enough on that one to control the deflection,” Hegg said. “And when I looked up, I saw that hole in the upper left corner.”
“(Hegg did a) great job of picking a spot and keeping her kick low – and on goal,” Snider said.
The goal capped a second-half comeback for the Panthers, who fell behind 2-1 when G-Prep’s Erica Hart scored unassisted just 4 minutes after intermission.
“It was indicative of a couple of top teams,” Snider said of the game’s many momentum changes. “I thought toward the end of the first half, when they got their first goal, they were starting to win some play on us again. And then we had to rebound after giving up that goal right after halftime. The girls did a good job of settling down and continuing to play hard.”
G-Prep got its goals from Gabby Kennedy and Erica Hart, while Mead’s Mikayla Anderson scored in the 49th minute to tie the match at 2.
Sarah Manix and Mariah Knopp combined for 12 saves for G-Prep, while Kelsey Terris turned back five shots for Mead.
District 7 2A: Kaley Way scored three second-half goals as West Valley rolled past visiting Clarkston 5-1 in a loser-out match. The win earned the third-seeded Eagles (14-2) a berth against second-seeded Cheney (12-4) in Cheney on Thursday at 2:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to state. … Freshman Nikole Ball scored three second-half goals and raised her season total to 13 in leading fourth-seeded Deer Park (9-7) to a 3-0 win over visiting and fifth-seeded Medical Lake (7-9). The Stags face top-seeded Pullman (14-2) in Pullman at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, winner to state.