CV, Mt. Spokane roll into state soccer
It’s all in the distant past now for the Central Valley girls soccer team, that 2-0 loss to Mead in the 4A District finals on Nov. 1.
The Bears regrouped in a big way last week at regionals, blanking University and Mead to return to the state playoffs they won a year ago.
CV (16-2) will face Snohomish of Everett in a first-round match today at 3 p.m. at Spokane Falls Community College.
“We knew we were better than we played against Mead in District,” CV coach Andres Monrroy said Monday.
A rain-soaked field played a part, slowing down the Bears’ usual crisp passing game, but that wasn’t all.
Last week, as they prepared for a loser-out game against University, Monrroy reiterated a point that’s been obvious since the first day of practice in August: “I told the girls that this is about character – that when you’re the defending state champion, everyone is trying harder to beat you,” Monrroy said.
With that message delivered, the Greater Spokane League champion Bears answered with a 3-0 win over U-Hi and a 4-0 rout of Mead. Sophomore forward Kelsey Turnbow accounted for four goals and an assist in those games.
Next up is a Snohomish team that is 13-5-1 after playing its third straight overtime game on Saturday, a 1-0 shootout win over Kamiak.
“We don’t know much about them, but we’re doing our homework,” Monrroy said.
The only drawback to finishing second in regionals is that should the Bears defeat Snohomish, they’ll have to hit the road for a quarterfinal match this weekend, either at Richland or West Valley of Yakima.
3A: In the second game of today’s doubleheader at SFCC, Mt. Spokane will face Lake Washington at 5:30. The Wildcats (14-3) have been off for almost a week since a 4-3 win over Southridge in the regionals.
In 10 matches before that, Mt. Spokane had given up just five goals in 10 matches.
Lake Washington is 15-4 after eliminating Roosevelt 4-2 at regionals. The Kangaroos finished second in the KingCo 3A/2A league while scoring 34 goals and giving up six.
If Mt. Spokane wins today, it will host either Southridge or Bonney Lake later this week.