Bellarmine Prep Nips Mead

After a first half of surviving a slew of near misses, the Mead Panthers opened up just enough for the Bellarmine Prep Lions to gain the space they needed to pull out a 2-0 victory in the semifinals of the State 4A girls soccer tournament at Federal Way Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

Two free kicks by Kim Butler led to second-half Bellarmine Prep goals. The first came off the foot of Katie Buser and the second was scored by Kaitlin Neary.

The loss drops Mead to 17-4 and into the consolation game against Inglemoor (16-3) today at 2 p.m. Inglemoor was sent into the consolation game by a 2-0 loss to Roosevelt (14-0-3), which faces Bellarmine in the title game at 8 p.m.

“They (the Lions) were able to step it up a notch and that was pretty evident in the second half,” said Mead coach Travis Hanson. Even though the Lions owned a 5-2 shot advantage, the game flowed back and forth throughout the first 40 minutes. After the intermission was another story, with Bellarmine pressuring the Mead goal for the better part the second half.

Mead keeper Angie Shea held strong with five saves in the first half, but couldn’t gather in a hard shot early in the second half that led to Bellarmine’s first goal. The shot came hard and low off a 35-yard free kick from Butler, a senior defender. Shea made the initial save, but the ball bounded out in front of the Panthers’ net. Buser pounced on the rebound, hitting the crossbar with the shot. The ball bounced down on the goal line before Buser raced to knock it in.

“I just try to put it on the penalty spot,” Butler said of her free kicks. “I’m confident they’re going to get to it most of the time.”

Just as Buser got to the first of Butler’s free kicks, Neary got a foot on the second. Neary flipped the floating service over Shea into the Panthers’ net with just 3:09 left in the game.

The first half contained 40 minutes of missed opportunities for both the Panthers and the Lions. Mead kept the game scoreless thanks to Shea’s five saves, several which came in dramatic fashion.

The Panthers’ best chance to score came late in the first half on a free kick by senior Janie Strait from 20 yards out. The far post looked open, but Strait’s shot sailed over the goal.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge to score on them,” Hanson said. “They start four seniors across the back and No. 6 (Butler) is a force.”