Hamilton leads St. George’s into State 1B/2B boys soccer title game
SUMNER, Wash. – After being held scoreless in the first half in the cold of Sunset Chev Stadium, Michael Hamilton caught fire for the St. George’s Dragons.
The senior forward scored three goals in a 13-minute span of the second half as the Dragons shut out defending state Mount Vernon Christian 3-0 in the State 1B/2B boys soccer semifinals.
The Dragons worked the ball inside to Hamilton in the second half as they played a patient possession game to break a scoreless tie and advance to today’s 4 p.m. final against Tacoma Baptist.
“He’s done it all year,” said St. George’s coach Heidi Melville. “He is the one player who rises to the occasion.”
Hamilton had 26 goals coming into the game, including six hat tricks during the season.
“We didn’t possess well in the first half,” said Hamilton. “We just got unlucky in the first half. We tried to play fast on the turf.”
“We had (many) shots in the first half, but we were settling for long-range bombs,” said Melville. “We needed to work the ball inside. We kept pushing it and we went in. We preached patience and it made our offense work.”
All of Hamilton’s goals came within 20 yards of the goal.
His first score came in the 44th minute, taking a pass from Mitchell Ward and sending it in from 20 yards out. His second goal came in the 52nd, shooting the ball from the left side 12 yards out over MVC keeper Riley Hood.
His final goal came five minutes later, taking a pass from Stow Miller from in front of the net and sending it in from close range to the right side past Hood.
While Hamilton scored, it made life in goal easy for Noah Haliburton-Link. The sophomore keeper played football last year for Mead High School before coming over to soccer.
He made three saves in goal, including a long-range shot from MVC’s Dalton McIlrath from 35 yards out in the first half. A save off a corner kick by McIlrath in the 51st minute preserved the shutout.
“He was amazing,” said Melville. “He has the surest hands I’ve ever seen. He’s not classically trained as a goalkeeper. He just picks things up.”
The Dragons (17-3) will play Tacoma Baptist, a 1-0 winner over Crosspoint, for the state title. A win would give the Dragons their first state title since 2000.
Mount Vernon Christian (20-2) will play for third place at noon against Crosspoint.