East Valley, West Valley soccer programs seek winning formula

When it comes to soccer, boys or girls, the Great Northern League will often take on the appearance of the fight at the end of a “Rocky” movie.

Lots of haymakers thrown and landed, shrugged off and rallied against, toe-to-toe.

Except for the predictable ending, that is.

While there are some leagues across the state that are so large they break themselves into divisions, the GNL isn’t even close to being one of them. With just five Class 2A schools as members, every GNL team plays the other four times during the regular season instead of the home-and-home featured in most leagues.

Familiarity leads to a healthy respect as well as a hard-nosed unwillingness to give in to anyone. In the GNL you rarely get through undefeated, you don’t get through unscathed and you never, ever make it all the way to the end without being thoroughly tested.

This spring, the league has made it through most of its nonleague schedule and the first round of league play.

Pullman is undefeated at 7-0-2 and is 5-0 in league play, with only Cheney able to score against the Greyhounds defense.

Clarkston is the only other team with a winning record in league games at 3-2, with losses to Pullman and Cheney. West Valley has two wins in its first five league games and East Valley and Cheney each have one win going into spring break.

“We’re at a good spot to kind of take a break and reevaluate things and take a look at where we went to go going forward,” WV coach Lenny Peterson said. “We struggled a little bit going into the break.”

A year ago the Eagles opened the season with three straight wins, then did not win another game the rest of the spring. Peterson has the program working hard to erase the after-effects of that kind of collapse.

The Eagles opened the season losing four straight matches, the first three against Greater Spokane League competition followed by a 1-0 loss to Clarkston in the GNL opener. All three wins came in succession – a 3-2 win over Colville in the final nonleague match followed by a 1-0 win over Cheney and a 2-1 win over East Valley.

“We came into last week vying for first place,” Peterson said. “Against Pullman we actually controlled the game for the first 15 or 20 minutes. Then things just fell apart.”

West Valley gave up six goals the rest of the way against the Greyhounds. It carried over to the Clarkston game, in which the Eagles gave up three goals in the first eight minutes and lost, 4-2.

“The thing is, I actually think Pullman is down a little from what they were last year and I think we’re improved,” Peterson said. “I still think whoever gets out of this league this year is going to have two or three losses. It’s going to be interesting to see how things play out the rest of the way because this is far from settled.”

The Eagles aren’t settled themselves.

The program started with just 26 players out to fill roster spots on both a varsity and a JV. That leaves both teams with two substitutes and most starters are asked to play a full game without a breather.

“Interestingly enough, our problem isn’t with guys getting tired at the end of the game,” Peterson said. “We’re strong at the end of the game. Our challenge is to get a good start.

“We’re trying to build a culture of winning and I think we need to start games with the attitude that we’re going to go out and win games.”

Senior Chase Howat was a first-team All GNL player as a sophomore, but missed most of his junior season to injury. This year Peterson moved him to forward to take advantage of his goal-scoring ability and that will add significant punch to the team’s offense.

“We’re not going to have him for the first game or two after the break because he’s still on vacation with his family,” Peterson said. “Once he gets back I’m looking forward to finally having my starting lineup on the field for the first time all season.”

A long-time assistant coach with both the boys and girls programs, East Valley first-year coach Todd Slatter has the same problem.

The Knights entered the break with three wins in their first four matches, but managed just two goals in their first four GNL matches, with just a 1-0 win over Cheney.

Slatter is looking to get senior Zach Bowsky back to help bolster the team’s midfield and classmate Joey Gresch back to anchor the defense.

“Zach has been out with a medial-collateral ligament strain and we haven’t gotten him back yet,” Slatter said. “We’re finally getting Joey Gresch back and healthy.

“Once we get those two back and healthy our chemistry is going to be pretty good.”

East Valley is oh-so-close to turning the league upside down.

The Knights opened the season playing University to a scoreless draw and posted a 1-0 win over Mt. Spokane before drawing with Ferris, 2-2.

“I think this is where we really missed having Zach so far this spring,” Slatter said. “I help coach wrestling and Zach is a wrestler. We need a player with that tough, wrestler mindset – who doesn’t get rattled and goes out and finds a way to win.”

Slatter said he sees the next month of the season turning into a battle.

“I really believe that any team can beat anyone else,” he said. “This is that kind of a league. Pullman has had a great start, but they are going to get beat. We just need to get hot at the right time.”