Gonzaga Prep takes another shot at tough Bombers

The eastern branch of the State 4A girls soccer tournament, a duplicate of last year’s matches, continues at 1 p.m. today in Richland.

Last week’s first-round state opponents were identical to the 2003 matchups. Today’s second-round opponents, Gonzaga Prep and Richland, are also the same.

The only difference: This year, defending state champion Richland (16-1) hosts G-Prep (14-2), a reverse of last year, when the Bombers topped the Bullpups 2-0 in Spokane.

The teams are familiar with one another. Richland is led by all-state midfielder Hayley McCoy, who has totaled 18 goals and 16 assists.

The Bombers have been bolstered by the return of Justine Jones, who scored in Richland’s 5-0 repeat win over University last weekend. Jones had a leg fracture that was supposed to sideline her for 6-8 weeks, but she told the Tri-City Herald that the injury healed faster than anticipated. Jones scored 15 goals for the state champs last year.

Against U-Hi, Rachael Lowe scored twice and Lyndsee Landon had her ninth shutout of the season.

Sarah Dean leads the Bullpups with 14 goals. Goalkeeper Elise Kuhar-Pitters has recorded 12 shutouts.

G-Prep defeated Kamiakin 2-1 last week, avenging an earlier shootout loss in defeating the Braves in the first-round state match for the second straight year.

2A: Riverside at Connell, 1 p.m.

Eastern Washington 2A soccer is stout. It was evident last year when three of four teams reached the round of eight and Connell defeated Cashmere in the semifinals en route to the title.

Cashmere, third in state last year, defeated Riverside and Pullman in the first two rounds of last year’s tourney.

Cashmere is out this season, losing last week to Connell. That set up today’s match at Connell (16-4) against Riverside (15-4), which advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-1 first-round win over East Valley-Yakima.

Riverside went undefeated this year against Great Northern League teams, winning the regular season and District 7 tournament.

Kim Fischer and Dani Rose Hansen have been the Rams’ scoring leaders. Tracy Bowen scored twice on Krysten Svennungsen assists in the team’s first tourney victory.

1A/B boys: Northwest Christian vs. St. George’s at Kennewick, 10 a.m.

Northwest Christian (13-2-1) and St. George’s (11-6-1) advanced to today’s state quarterfinal by picking up wins on Friday at Lampson Field. NWC topped Trout Lake 3-1, and St. George’s edged Moses Lake Christian 1-0. NWC is 3-0 against St. George’s this season. Today’s winner advances to Friday’s state semifinals at Curtis High in Tacoma.

Northwest Christian and Trout Lake did all of their scoring in the final 8 minutes. Ray Kelly scored first in the 72nd minute of play for the Crusaders (13-2-1). Bryce Shellerud scored the game-winning goal on a penalty kick.

St. George’s Tad Johnson sat out 10 minutes of the first half with an injury suffered in a collision with an opposing player, but came back to score the game-winning goal with 4 minutes left in the first half, beating the goalkeeper one-on-one on a low shot from 13 yards out. Three-time Panorama League goalie of the year Matt Jackson made 12 saves in goal to earn the shutout.