WSU soccer does its job

PULLMAN – Defense has meant everything for the Washington State women’s soccer team this year, and on Sunday it might have done enough to get the Cougars into the NCAA Women’s College Cup.

WSU defeated Arizona 1-0 in its regular-season finale, the lone goal coming in the ninth minute from defender Allison Scurich on a corner kick, and in doing so placed itself squarely on the bubble for a postseason berth.

The Cougars (9-7-4, 4-3-2 Pac-10) have been in this same position in each of the last two seasons, and was convinced last season that they had done enough to qualify. But a team gathering to watch the selection show produced only tears and shock as the bracket was filled without it.

“You never know,” coach Matt Potter said. “To speculate and try and guess, it’s not my job now. We’ve put ourselves in the picture and that’s for somebody else to now decide.

“We know we’re on the bubble, but I think we’ve done enough to get in again.”

This year, WSU has no plans to watch as a team when the field is announced at noon, but if it does make the tournament it’ll be largely on the shoulders of a record-setting defensive effort.

Sunday’s win against Arizona (8-10-2, 1-6-2) was the 10th shutout of the Cougar season, tying a school record. In 19 games WSU allowed 13 goals, also setting a new school mark. Goalie Brynn Bemis set an individual single-season record with a .59 goals against average, nearly two-tenths of a goal better than the previous Cougar best.

“That’s an awesome team accomplishment,” said Bemis, a junior from Coeur d’Alene. “Our defense has been really good.”

So it’s no wonder Scurich’s early goal was enough to stand up for the rest of the contest. It came on the second of nine Cougar corner kicks, a perfect, curling boot off of Anna Miller’s foot that found Scurich’s head near the far post and bounced into the net.

At 5-foot-10, Scurich easily outjumped the Arizona defense to get a clean shot at the ball.

“I noticed before the game that they didn’t have much height and so I said to Anna, ‘We’re going to get this on the corner,’” she said. “Even when I was out there, the girls weren’t marking that tight and I just slipped onto the back post there and got it in.”

Now, though, the Cougars can only wait to see if the season-ending win and a fourth-place Pac-10 finish will extend the season for at least a few more days.

“They’ve taken five teams from the Pac-10, the top five teams from the Pac-10, the last six seasons,” Potter said. “So if that’s the case then you can make a case for us.”