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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GNL teams look to conference schedule

West Valley’s Sophia Stahl-Hamilton (15) battles University High School’s Kelsey Crosby (8) on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016, in Spokane Valley, Wash. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

It’s not easy playing soccer in the Great Northern League.

For starters, the league is an outpost – hours away by bus from the nearest Class 2A competition, the Central Washington Athletic Conference. That makes scheduling nonleague games something of a challenge.

Couple the scheduling challenge with the fact the league has just five teams (East Valley, West Valley, Cheney, Pullman and Clarkston) and you have a situation in which teams play each other three times per season to fill out the season schedule.

So when teams reach the playoffs, what happens?

They play each other all over again in the district tournament and a couple berths in the regional tournament, where GNL teams frequently have had to play each other one more time for a berth in the state tournament.

At this point, that would be five games against the same opponent.

And occasionally, they get the sixth meeting when the state tournament draw comes out and the first round features two GNL teams playing a loser-out game.

All of which means that Great Northern League soccer games in September amount to part of the getting-to-know-you stage of the intraleague relationship. It’s what happens in October that counts more.

All of that actually works to the benefit of the Greater Spokane League – with GNL teams serving as quality nonleague opponents to help prepare them for the start of an always-tough league season.

Mt. Spokane, Shadle Park, Ferris, North Central, Gonzaga Prep and University all had nonleague games scheduled with East Valley or West Valley to start the year. Prep, a state Class 4A semifinalist a year ago, actually trailed West Valley before rallying with four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 win.

East Valley Knights

Coach Gabe Escobar’s teams have a way of peaking at the right time.

A year ago, the team was 16-3 and reached the state Class 2A semifinal round, one game shy of the Final Four.

This year, the Knights opened the season with a pair of games against Greater Spokane League teams, coming away with a split.

In the opener, EV gave up a pair of early goals in a 3-1 loss to Ferris, getting outshot 12-8 in the process. Autumn Stewart scored for the Knights.

EV bounced back to post a 5-2 win over Shadle Park behind a pair of goals by Renay Hoffman.

East Valley was hit hard by graduation, losing All-GNL first-teamers Skylar and Madison Bastin and Hannah Burland, the latter the GNL Defensive Player of the Year.

West Valley Eagles

Just like East Valley, the Eagles have opened the season against tough competition.

West Valley dropped a 4-3 battle with Mt. Spokane and a 4-1 decision to Gonzaga Prep sandwiching a 2-1 loss to Clarkston in the league opener at Clarkston in the wind.

Chelsea Koker had a goal and two assists in the opener with the Wildcats.

West Valley, too, was hit hard by graduation, losing Ashley Meyer, the GNL Offensive Player of the Year, as well as first-team All-GNL midfielder Jenna Sullens.

Back is first-team defender Madeline Liberg.

Central Valley Bears

The Bears are one season away from being the two-time defending state champions and the cupboard at CV has never been bare.

CV knocked off Wenatchee in its season opener and backed that up with a 6-3 win over Lake City behind a hat trick by Maddie Ames and a two-goal effort by Natalie Cabiad.

CV graduated defender Erica Casey and midfielder Katie Van Etten, both All-Greater Spokane League second-team performers a year ago. But the team returns All-GSL second-teamer Kaelyn Barnes at forward and sophomore goalkeeper A.J. Crooks, who earned honorable mention honors a year ago.

University Titans

Megan Perkins, who earned Co-Coach of the Year honors a year ago, has a solid nucleus back from a team that reached the regional tournament a year ago.

The Titans graduated the GSL Defensive Player of the Year from last season, goalkeeper Ryann Rydeen, and lost second-team All-GSL selection Gabrielle Orndorff, but there is a large group of returning players with experience to build around.

Forward Julia Adair, also a second-team All-GSL pick, returns, as does freshman midfielder Kelsey Crosby, an honorable-mention honoree last year.

Crosby got off to a fast start in the season opener with a 4-2 win over North Central, scoring three unassisted goals, including a pair of goals in a three-minute span in the second half.