CV girls soccer continues upward trend with win over LC
Finally, the Central Valley girls soccer players can relax – a little.
Battling through an opening-day loss, some key injuries and a challenging schedule, the Bears finally got to exhale Wednesday afternoon after a 3-1 win over Lewis and Clark at Hart Field.
“We had a lot to overcome the last three weeks,” CV coach Andres Monrroy said after the Bears claimed a key Greater Spokane League win over their closest pursuers in the race for the top seed at the District 8 4A.
Following a shootout loss to Mt. Spokane on Sept. 24, the preseason GSL favorites have been playing catch-up, a task made harder by injuries to starters Cassie Fielding and Alaina Bates.
“But the people on the bench have come through, and that feels good as a coach,” said Monrroy, whose team won its fourth consecutive match to improve to 9-1 overall and 4-1 in the GSL.
It probably felt better to get an early 3-0 lead over the Tigers (7-3, 3-2). Forward Katie Van Etten struck in the second minute with a floater that crossed under the crossbar and just over the hands of LC goalkeeper Emma Marshall.
Twelve minutes later, forward Natalie Cabiad sent a ball from the left wing that was neither a shot nor a cross, but somehow curled inside the far post.
“It was kind of a little soft shot, but I didn’t think it was going in,” Cabiad said.
To that point, the Tigers had done a good job of containing forward Kelsey Turnbow, the national U-17 player who’d already notched 13 goals this season. But in the 22nd minute, Turnbow took a pass from Sydney Goldfelt at the top of the box, and with two defenders behind her, whipped to her right and left-footed a blast into the same spot that Cabiad found earlier.
The Tigers got one back 6 minutes later from Natalie Doran and got some dangerous runs from Rebekah Reason and Olivia Ellis, but an improving CV defense was up to the task in a scoreless second half.
“We’ve really come together and definitely figured it out,” said senior goalkeeper Chloe Scholtz, who took over the starting job this year and faced 10 shots from LC.
“Being a starter now, it’s definitely a lot more pressure,” Scholtz said.
The pressure may ease a bit during the next two weeks, when the Bears face lower-division teams Shadle Park, Rogers and North Central before closing the regular season at Mead.
District is only three weeks away, but Monrroy still has his sights on the GSL title. Mt. Spokane still holds a one-game lead on the field with four matches to go, but faces a tough run of matches against University, LC, Mead and Gonzaga Prep.
Elsewhere in the league, Alex Chambers scored three unassisted goals in the second half to lift Mead (6-5, 3-2) to a 3-0 win over host Shadle Park (5-7, 2-3) at Albi Stadium. On Chambers’ first goal, she pounced on a bad clearance, dribbled twice and scored when the ball deflected off a defender. Her third score came on a direct free kick from 18 yards. … Morgan Crosby scored twice and Brooke Berg added a goal as University (8-1, 4-1) posted a 3-0 win over visiting North Central (1-7, 0-5). … Laura Stockton and Becca Crum scored late in the second half to lift Gonzaga Prep (6-3, 3-2) to a 2-0 win over Ferris (6-4, 1-4) at Albi.
Volleyball
Sydney Underwood and Laina Damon had five kills apiece and Mary Stoa had 13 assists and two aces as host Lewis and Clark swept Rogers 3-0 to take over first place alone in the GSL at 4-0. The Pirates dropped to 0-4.
Cross country
West Valley’s Skylar Ovincek led the boys race start to finish, winning in 15 minutes, 47 seconds and holding off Cheney’s Steaven Zachman by 1 second to give the visiting Eagles a 27-28 Great Northern League win. WV’s McCall Skay won the girls race in 19:19, but Cheney won the team race 22-37. … Elsewhere, Pullman swept host Clarkston behind individual wins from junior Matt Winchell (17:20.97) and sophomore Madeline Walker (20:12.87).