Strampe’s switch leads Cheney past WV
Yve Strampe led the Cheney girls soccer team with seven goals during the 2005 regular season, but double teams had recently shut down the senior in the center of the field as the Blackhawks suffered through five shutouts in seven games.
A simple shuffle of personnel was all Cheney needed in Tuesday afternoon’s 3A Eastern Regional loser-out match at Cheney High, as Strampe scored twice from her new right midfielder spot in a 3-1 victory over West Valley.
“We thought she wouldn’t be able to be double-teamed and would have the space that she needs to do what she can do so well,” Cheney head coach Marisa Sheldon said of Strampe’s move to the outside, “and that’s beat people one-on-one and go to goal.”
Strampe opened scoring for the District 8 champions on Cheney’s first real scoring opportunity, bouncing the ball past WV goalkeeper Missy Carey from about 15 yards out in the fourth minute.
“Robyn (Smith), our assistant coach, just told us to just shoot anything, any opportunity we had,” Strampe said. “We were just supposed to rip it whenever possible.”
The Blackhawks (9-10) ripped it to the tune of 25 shots, including 15 in the second half, to just eight for the Eagles, who finished their season 7-11.
After Amanda Swenson started the second half with a rebound off a Carey deflection in the 48th minute, Strampe added her ninth goal of the year in the 54th, rebounding her miss at point-blank range to give the Blackhawks an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
“I was pretty frustrated with my first shot going right to the keeper,” Strampe said.
“But I knew it was coming back to me … so I just put it in.”
WV had plenty of opportunities early and nearly tied the match at 1 in the 21st minute when one of a flurry of shots rolled past Cheney goalkeeper Amy Knox and into the possession of the Eagles’ Lindsay Hood near the right goalpost.
But sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Proctor shut the door on the senior forward, laying out and blocking the shot out of bounds.
“I just knew I had to get in front of her somehow. I knew she was getting a shot off,” Proctor said. “I just tried to get a body on it somehow to deflect it.”
Proctor was marked up on Hood – who scored 12 goals in 13 Greater Spokane League games – for most of the match and held the Eagles’ star in check during that time. Hood scored WV’s only goal in the 70th minute, when Knox swung and missed the ball on the slippery field and Hood sprinted on a breakaway to tap the ball into the goal.
Cheney will attempt to earn its third State 3A berth in five years when it faces Hanford in another loser-out affair Saturday at Eastern Washington University.