Saxons Set Sights On Semis Ferris Defeats Pasco 2-0 On Goals By Crary, Faridnia

Abbas Faridnia said there was nothing too it.

It was just a 12-yard penalty kick from practically straight on. The Ferris High School midfielder had executed it hundreds of times in practice. So what if the stage was the State 4A quarterfinals?

Nothing to it, a PK is a PK and Faridnia was poised enough to take advantage. The senior coolly knocked in the game’s first goal as the Saxons went on to defeat the Pasco Bulldogs 2-0 Saturday afternoon at University High.

The win moved the District 8-4A champion Saxons into the State 4A semifinals in which they will play Curtis on Friday in Vancouver. Curtis defeated Mountain View 3-2.

After a scoreless first half, Faridnia broke the deadlock at 46 minutes when he faked out Gordie Vierck, whose lunge to the left caught nothing but air and grass.

“Usually everybody thinks it’s pressure, but it’s not too much pressure,” Faridnia said. “It’s not that bad. Their goalie looked more scared than I did.”

Until then, Vierck and his strong defensive line, anchored by Jermaine Johnson, kept the Bulldogs (16-4) in the game. Ferris (16-5) took six shots in the first half and Vierck was credited with three saves, eight overall.

“They really came at us,” Pasco coach Sean Esterhuizen said. “I think what really knocked us off our game was the size of the field.

“We’re used to playing on a field that’s about 10 yards wider. They’re big and strong and they kept beating us to the ball. I think on a bigger field, we could have had more of an impact.”

Pasco had little impact in the first half, taking no shots on Saxons keeper Tommy Servine. Pasco, the District 9-4A champs, got off four shots in the second half and Servine made two saves.

Ferris took 15 shots overall.

Faridnia came within inches of scoring at 20:00, but his open shot hit the left post.

‘They pulled a lot of people back in defense and their defenders played very deep,” said Ferris second-year coach Robin Crain, who guided the Saxons to a state runner-up finish last season. “We knew there would be a lot of space to work between their midfield and their defensive line.”

However, all the Bulldogs could do on Faridnia’s penalty kick was watch.

The kick was set up when Pasco’s Andy Duvall was called for tripping Saxons forward Garth Cummings, who was on a breakaway.

“I got all ball and the referee just made a bad call, that’s all,” said Duvall, a junior defender.

Esterhuizen had a different take on the critical call.

“From my angle, he (Duvall) was a little late getting the tackle in,” Esterhuizen said. “I don’t think it was worth calling a foul on though. You see it all the time in the box.”

Faridnia, a developmental player with the USISL Premier League Spokane Shadow, also played a part in the second goal.

The Saxons made the score 2-0 at 70:00 on Aaron Crary’s one-touch goal. Ian Clausen played a ball to Faridnia, who beat his defender. Faridnia passed to Matt Brown, who made a nice run inside and one-touched it to Crary.

Crary was right there to knock it in.

“After we scored the PK, we started getting a little bit of rhythm and we were touching the ball, maintaining possession for a long time,” Crain explained. “Matt Brown did a great job getting to the end line. And he just hit it across the face of the goal.”

State 2A quarterfinal

Dan Rose and Souza had one goal and one assist apiece to lead Pullman (15-2-1) to a 5-0 win over visiting Highland of Cowiche.

Rose and Tim O’Connor guided a defense that held the Scotties to four shots on goal.

The Greyhounds led 3-0 after 11 minutes.

Pullman plays East Valley (Yakima) at 7 p.m. Friday in a state semifinal at Selah.

WHAT’S NEXT Final Four: Ferris plays Curtis (Tacoma) Friday in the state semifinals.