Prep roundup: Central Valley storms back to edge Mead in GSL girls soccer

The Central Valley girls soccer team played an unfamiliar role Wednesday night: underdog.

The two-time defending State 4A champs were coming off a four-goal loss and trailed Mead by two goals, but staged a remarkable second-half comeback on the way to a dramatic 3-2 shootout win at CVHS Stadium.

“I think this is going to help our confidence and grow as a team,” said Bears coach Andres Monrroy, whose young team was seemingly down for the count early against a team picked by most to win the Greater Spokane League.

CV trailed 2-0 midway through the half, “and it could have been worse,” Monrroy said.

“We grew up quite a bit tonight,” said sophomore Kaelyn Barnes, who scored the winner in the shootout. “It’s all mental – if you believe it, you can win.”

That was easier said than done for a program that lost nine seniors, then lost a 6-2 shocker to Ferris last week.

“That was a tough loss for us,” Monrroy said. “When you have a young team, you have to take it one match at a time. And when you’re the defending champion, everyone’s going to come after you.”

And so the Panthers did. Mead, looking for some payback against the team that kept it out of state last year, got a goal in the fifth minute from Alex Chambers. The Panthers missed several golden chances to put the Bears away early, but got a goal from Katie Greene midway through the half and seemed on the way to running away with this one.

But they didn’t. Slowly, the match turned.

At halftime, Barnes said she was thinking “that we just needed to connect and play our style, playing it out wide and playing through balls.”

The Bears answered in the second half with goals from Hailey Tucker and Kailyn Labrosse, sending the game to overtime.

In other GSL action, Gonzaga Prep got an equalizing goal from Larkin Russell with a minute left to forge a 2-all tie in regulation play, then went on to defeat Lewis and Clark in a shootout at Hart Field. The Bullpups (5-2, 3-0) came from behind twice to send the Tigers (4-4, 0-3) to their third straight loss. Darby Dole got the other goal for G-Prep, while Maia Angell and Sarah Curran scored for LC.

Ferris stayed unbeaten in league play after dominating Shadle Park 8-1 at the Dwight Merkel Complex. Katie Uphus and Alexi Murphy scored two goals apiece for the Saxons (5-3, 3-0). Ferris led 3-1 at halftime, but put the game away with two quick goals after intermission. Ferris outshot the Highlanders 20-4. Keilah Shaw scored for Shadle Park.

Mt. Spokane scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes en route to a 5-1 drubbing of visiting Rogers. Seniors Kaylen Carlson and Ashley Sanders tallied two points each for the Wildcats (7-1, 2-1), with Carlson recording a goal and an assist and Sanders assisting on two goals.

University junior Julia Adair scored a goal and tallied an assist in the host Titans’ 2-0 shutout over North Central.

Sarah Manor saved 14 shots for the Indians in the loss. U-Hi improved to 5-3, 2-1.

Cross country

Ferris’ boys and girls took narrow team wins and University athletes won the individual races during a three-way Greater Spokane League cross country meet at Liberty Lake County Park.

The Saxons boys defeated U-Hi 27-29 and Gonzaga Prep 25-31. Ferris’ girls topped U-Hi 26-31 and G-Prep 25-33.

The Titans’ Hunter Simpson won the boys 3-mile race, finishing in 15 minutes, 58 seconds, 7 seconds ahead of teammate Isaac Barville. U-Hi’s Claire Dingus won the girls race, finishing in 20:05.

Elsewhere, junior Zak Kindl (16:39 for 5,000 meters) and sophomore Katie Thronson (20:11) led host Lewis and Clark to team wins over Mead at Manito Park. LC’s boys won 23-36 and the girls 23-34.

At Audubon Park, North Central boys routed Mt. Spokane 19-44 while the Wildcats topped NC’s girls 23-36. NC senior Justin Janke cruised to first place on the boys side, finishing the 3-mile race in 16:05. Mt. Spokane senior Micaela Kostecka edged NC senior Maya Pardue by 5 seconds to finish first in the girls race in 20:03.

At Franklin Park, Central Valley’s boys and girls swept Shadle Park and Rogers. CV’s boys placed six in the top 10 and the girls had seven. Rogers senior Roberto Lopez ran 3 miles in 16:11.90 to win the boys race. Shadle junior Ashley Hauger (19:53.60) won for the girls.

Great Northern League: West Valley’s boys and girls cruised past host Clarkston. Eagles junior Jacob Nicholson was the top boys runner, finishing the 5,000 meters in 17:01.54. Sophomore Shaunie Kopczynski crossed at 21:12.77 to win for West Valley’s girls.