State soccer: Central Valley’s perfect season ends in State 4A girls championship game defeat
Perspective was important in that moment for Andres Monnroy, who was also fighting back tears.
Central Valley went 18 matches notching nothing but wins en route to its third appearance in five seasons in the State 4A girls soccer championship match.
The tears in the postgame huddle said it all. The Bears had finally been bested.
Central Valley fell to Issaquah 2-1, with all the scoring happening in the first half Saturday night at Carls Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. Washington.
“Congratulations to Issaquah obviously,” Monnroy, CV’s coach, said. “They had a good game planned. I’m still extremely proud of my girls, going undefeated and battling all the way to the end of the game. Somebody had to win. It was unfortunate it wasn’t us.”
Issaquah (20-2) was a formidable opponent, losing only to prolific KingCo sides Bothell and Skyline on the season.
CV had good vibes early in the match with the second goal in as many days from Kaelyn Barnes, only needing a powerful initial touch from a Michael Pitts cross into the box to put the Bears on top in the 25th minute.
It was all unraveled five minutes later.
Monnroy’s scouting report on the Eagles preached defending quick throw-ins, in which Issaquah tries to flick onto runners for quick looks at goal.
Hearing it is one thing, but putting it into practice is another. Issaquah scored twice in five minutes off the strategy.
First, flicking it on for a lob into the box that was headed home by Catey Nelson in the 27th minute. Two minutes later, Mariah Van Halm took the subsequent pass from the throw-in at the top of the box and sent a powerful shot into the corner of the net to put the Eagles up 2-1.
“We weren’t used to that type of set piece and we weren’t really prepared for it. It was a huge wake-up call for us,” CV goalkeeper AJ Crooks said. “But second time around, they did it again. That’s how they scored their second goal. That was the real wake-up call for us.”
CV pushed in the second half, forcing Issaquah goalkeeper Chloe Lang into three saves on four shots. But no clear cut chance meant the necessary equalizer wouldn’t materialize.
“Yeah, I personally think we dominated more of the game,” CV midfielder Anna Hilbert said. “We had trouble finishing. Tonight was one of those nights.”
Overcoming deficits and creating scoring opportunities at the right moments became a hallmark of CV’s impressive string of victories in 2017. It just didn’t materialize on the night.
“As many wins as we had, we never had it go over our heads and we were never cocky or anything,” Hilbert said. “We were down a couple games, but we never hung our heads. We always came back and just won, and so I think that’s the biggest thing about this team. Tonight, I guess we couldn’t come back.”
The Bears could bring back eight of 11 starters next season from this state runner-up squad, including Crooks, standout forward Maggie Ames and right winger Kailyn LaBrosse.
“I think this is a huge learning experience, especially for the underclassmen,” Crooks said. “We’ll be back next season for sure, this is not over.”
State 2A girls
White River 3, West Valley 2: Abby McConnell and Morgan Riojas scored in the 20th and 38th minutes, respectively, but the Eagles (9-13) lost to the Hornets (21-1) in the third-place game at Shoreline Stadium to finish in fourth place.
State 2B/1B girls
Life Christian 1, St. George’s 0: Tyler Taff scored the lone goal in the 21st minute to lift the Eagles (15-4) to a victory over the Dragons (11-5) in the championship match at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner. Cate Caporicci made six saves for the Dragons, who fell short of a second consecutive title in only the fourth year of the program.
State 2B/1B boys
Crosspoint 2, St. George’s 0: The Dragons (14-2-2) fell to the Warriors (19-1) in the championship match at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner.