Knights Win In Another Shootout

3A soccer

Sometimes, history repeats itself. Last year, the East Valley Knights girls soccer team defeated the Hanford Falcons in a shootout in the opening round of State 3A tournament.

Saturday, 80 minutes of regulation and two 5-minute sudden-death overtimes weren’t enough to decide the first round of the state playoffs. The Knights and Falcons had to shoot it out, with EV coming out on top 4-3.

EV plays its second-round match Saturday at a site to be determined against the winner of a Wednesday match between West Valley-Yakima and a West Side school.

This year’s EV-Hanford encounter had some variations. Instead of a 1-1 tie heading into the shootout, the teams were knotted at 3. The other differences were the players. Tiera Como, a freshman, was in goal for East Valley. She had nine saves in regulation. Sophomore Katy Tellessen was the hero.

EV (12-2-4) took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Cheree Walser at the 3-minute mark. Malea Schumacher, the Knights’ leading scorer, collected her 16th at 14 minutes on a pass from Amy Lambert.

At this point, scoring seemed to be just a matter of EV getting the ball into the Hanford end. The Knights had two goals on two shots. But EV couldn’t keep the ball on its offensive side much of the game. Two minutes before halftime, Nicole Dahl scored for Hanford.

The second half didn’t look good for the Knights as Hanford’s top goal-scorer, Erin Liedle, took advantage of EV’s lagging defense and scored twice for a 3-2 lead.

“In the second half, my team kind of let down,” said Como.

Lacey Nedrow brought East Valley back. She tied the game at 3 with 10 minutes left.

After two scoreless 5-minute overtimes, the teams moved into the familiar shootout.

Liedle was first to shoot for Hanford (14-4-1) and converted. Tammy Hill missed for East Valley. But after four shooters, the teams had three goals apiece. The last player for Hanford missed wide.

So it was up to Tellessen.

“I was asking everyone, ‘How come I have to go last?”’ Tellessen said. “When she (Maigh Herring) missed for them, I knew it was all on me, so I had to make it.”

She shot low to the right corner and won the game.

“I knew that as long as I kept it hard it would go past her,” Tellessen said.

District 7 2A

The Riverside High soccer team scored twice in the second half on the way to a 2-0 win over Pullman in the District 7 2A tournament at Riverside.

The defending State 2A champion Rams (16-1-1) will host East Valley of Yakima in the state quarterfinals. East Valley is the No. 2 seed out of the Central Washington Athletic Conference and lost 2-0 to Othello on Saturday.

Pullman (14-4) will travel to CWAC No. 1 Othello on Saturday. If both Great Northern League teams win, they will meet for the fourth time this fall in the state semifinals.

Jamie Rizzuto and Larissa Mueller had second-half goals for Riverside. Laura Hamby had the assist to Rizzuto and was responsible for marking Pullman’s leading scorer, Kelly Pritchard.