Cardinal Forward Points Team On Right Path To Playoffs

Medical Lake soccer coach Zane Higgins approached Mike Chappell before the season started and told him he would have to score more goals if the Cardinals were going to have a shot at the Great Northern League playoffs.

Chappell listened.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound senior forward, who earned second-team all-league honors last year, has 11 goals after scoring twice Tuesday in his team’s 5-0 win over Chewelah. He had four goals and four assists last year.

And Medical Lake is in the hunt for one of the league’s four playoff spots. They are currently third at 6-5 behind Riverside and Pullman.

“I told him I’d try my hardest and try to help the team out any way I could,” said Chappell, 19, one of the team’s captains.

Higgins knows it.

“He’s been doing really well for us this year,” Higgins said. “He’s got strength and speed. Those are his two biggest assets. Normally when we need a goal or it’s tied up in a tight game, he usually comes up with a goal that puts us on top or keeps us in games with the tougher teams.”

Chappell, in his second varsity season, knows this is it for him in soccer. He hopes to play football in college. He’s planning to play in the all-state football game June 19 in Yakima.

Frustrated Saxon

Ferris No. 1 boys singles player Nick Mays was frustrated after his team’s 4-3 Greater Spokane League loss to Lewis and Clark on Tuesday at Hart Field.

For the second straight year, the Saxons lost by the same score in a match that was potentially for the league title.

“I think we can beat these guys,” said Mays, who won his match over LC junior Karl Johnson in three sets. “They stay strong in the end. This is what we practice for, to play LC. Now we have to go home and think about it too much.

“Ferris should be able to beat LC in any sport. The coaches prepared us well for this. Everybody we play we think they’re LC and if we beat them, we beat LC. This is rough.”

Tigers senior Chris Carlson defeated Ferris sophomore Kevin Novan in the deciding match at third singles. Last year it came down to the same match between Carlson and Novan, which Carlson won in a third-set tiebreaker.

After losing the first set, Carlson said LC coach Jeff Norton told him to prepare for a long day.

Carlson said a GSL title his senior year would mean more than the league championship did a year ago. If LC wins league, it will be the Tigers’ fourth GSL title of the decade. They won in 1991, ‘94 and ‘98.

“I kept that in the back of my mind in the third set,” Carlson said.

Carlson said he was nervous, despite being the more experienced player.

“I’m not good enough not to be nervous,” he said. “And I don’t know if you can be old enough not to be nervous.”

Position change

Gonzaga Prep senior Nick Ascolese normally plays center forward for the Bullpup boys soccer team.

But not in last week’s 3-2 win against Mead.

Ascolese, Prep’s leading scorer, moved to goalie to replace the injured Garrett McQuesten, who broke his finger in the team’s previous match.

Ascolese was a natural. He finished with 11 saves.

Cheney track faces West Valley

The Cheney boys and girls track teams travel to take on West Valley today in a Frontier League meet. Both boys teams are 1-0 in league. The Cheney girls are 1-0, and West Valley is 0-1.

Girls tennis showdown

The Gonzaga Prep and Shadle Park girls tennis teams face off Tuesday in a battle of two of the GSL’s top teams. The match could determine which team will be league champion.

Both teams are 5-0 heading into matches today. The Bullpups are the defending league champion.

The match begins at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday at Mission Park.

The No. 1 singles match features Bullpups junior Lisa Van Gemert against Highlanders senior Lisa Trefts.