Roy Stymies Wv-Yakima As Dp/R Rolls To 5-2 Win

Bernice Stime’s two goals and a variety of sparkling saves by goalkeeper Maria Roy led Deer Park/ Riverside to a 5-2 victory over West Valley of Yakima in first-round State AA soccer tournament action at Deer Park on Saturday.

The game was a closer affair than the three-goal margin might indicate, as Deer Park/Riverside scored two goals in the game’s final 4 minutes to break it open.

“This is exactly where I would want them to be peaking,” said Deer Park/Riverside coach Brandt Houston, who called his team’s effort one of its best of the year.

WV-Yakima struck first on sophomore midfielder Andrea Stenberg’s goal 11 minutes into the game. Deer Park/Riverside evened the game on a Stime penalty kick at the 24-minute mark after DP/R’s Katie Bowers was shoved while attempting a header in WV-Yakima’s penalty box. Deer Park/ Riverside took its first lead when Traci Koesel at 46:00, and Stime’s second goal, in the 67th minute, proved to be the game-winner.

It was the game-winner because of the outstanding second-half play of Roy, who repeatedly stopped the attack of the WV-Yakima strikers, allowing a score only when Stenberg found Lisa Heinzen directly in front of the goal on a perfectly executed fast break. Roy finished with 11 saves, nine in the second half. “She really came up big,” Houston said. “She’s got a rib injury, and I wasn’t sure she would even be able to play.”

DP/R added late goals from Bowers and Danae Anderson.

“We actually put it together today,” Houston said. “We were solid defensively, and offensively we relieved pressure by getting away from (WV-Yakima’s) pressure quickly. They stepped up today.”

The victory sets up a rematch for DP/R against Hanford (20-0-0), the team which eliminated DP/R in 1994 with a 3-1 playoff victory. Hanford beat Othello 1-0 Saturday.