Panthers Bounce Back For Third

Their hearts broken in a shootout Friday night, the Mead Panthers underwent some healing Saturday.

A 2-0 win over Columbia River in the consolation game of the WIAA/ U.S. Bank State AAA girls soccer championship was the right prescription for the Panthers.

The win earned the Panthers (20-1) third place in state. Columbia River (18-2) wound up fourth.

“It wasn’t hard because I’m very competitive,” Mead senior Stacy Clinesmith said of bouncing back after Friday’s disappointing loss to Shorecrest in the semifinal. “I’m too competitive to lay down and just let them run all over us.”

Teammate Allison Beatty appreciated the chance to make up for Friday’s result.

“Right after last night’s game was over, we kind of wished, ‘Why can’t we be done?”’ said Beatty, whose mindset change shortly thereafter. “I’m so glad we had this chance to play. We had so much aggression built up we just wanted to come out and kill them.”

The Panthers injected the inspirational spark they needed with the game’s first goal.

“It was a real emotional loss and they had to build back up for this one and I think they did,” Mead coach Dick Cullen said. “Both teams were emotionally down. That first goal was real important.”

Senior midfielder Katrina Morton moved forward to put the Panthers up 1-0 just 12 minutes, 30 seconds into the game. Frazier tapped in a Beatty corner kick at the far post.

Clinesmith nearly gave Mead a two-goal lead with 16:24 left in the first half, but her header off another Beatty corner was deflected wide by a defender.

Clinesmith almost scored again with 4 minutes left in the first half, chipping a shot over Chieftains keeper Shanna Crites. The ball hit the inside of the far post and bounced back to Crites, who couldn’t handle it. Liz Dotimor hit the outside of the same post on the rebound.

Clinesmith finally found the back of the net in the final 2:28 of the game. She trapped the ball with her left foot at the top of the penalty box, whirled to her left and sent a right-footed shot to the bottom left corner of the goal.

“This makes up for it,” Mead keeper senior Holly Vanwert said. “No one here is disappointed to get third.”