East Valley advances to state

A little good fortune early and a lot of Cole Abramson and company later has East Valley in the first round of the State 3A soccer tournament for the first time in nearly a decade.

The Knights defeated Kamiakin 3-1 Wednesday at Gonzaga Prep, scoring on a Braves mistake and adding two goals by Abramson, thanks to some fancy footwork from a trio of teammates.

“We’re heading in the right direction,” said Jeff Rose, who has finally made state after coaching EV to three straight Greater Spokane League championships.

The Knights were facing a tough foe in the Braves, a senior-oriented team that had beaten EV in a non-league match earlier in the year.

This time the Knights pressed the attack for much of the contest’s first 55 minutes. They caught a break just past midpoint of the first half when a Kamiakin defender, trying to clear a shot, had the ball bound off his leg and Josh Polello tipped it into the goal.

With 4 minutes remaining until intermission, forwards Jeremy Jacobs and Abramson hooked up. Jacobs put a move on his defender, threaded a pass to the streaking Abramson who was 1-on-1 with Kamiakin’s keeper.

“When they played the ball to me, I saw the defense come up on me and knew if I tapped the ball outside I’d get around him and be open towards the goal,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs laid it in front of Abramson so he could keep up his speed.

Abramson juked left, got the goalie out of position and drilled the shot home right.

The third goal, at 47 minutes, came off of terrific ball handling. Dino Valdez passed to Matt Eatock in the right corner of Kamiakin’s end, got a return and crossed it to the left of goal.

“I just ran at Eatock, and he gave me the ball right back,” Valdez said. “I was just hoping to cross ‘er in there and someone would get a head on it.”

That someone was Abramson.

“Cole’s two goals were awesome,” said Rose. “He’s become the best player in the league.”

EV found itself shorthanded two defenders, including Marcus Intinarelli, who knocked heads with a Kamiakin player as both went for the ball early in the match.

But it was a defender, junior Jordan Selland, who shut down Kamiakin’s best player, Jacob Ellig.

That had a huge effect on the outcome, Rose said.

But the final 25 minutes were dicey when EV’s attack ran out of gas. Keeper Josh Peck spent much of the time fending off the Braves after they scored on a 40-yard long ball by Curtis Moore.

“They were just peppering us in there at the end,” Peck said. “That’s the time you have to be precise. You can’t be dropping anything.”

EV opens state play Saturday against Sunnyside, which defeated Eastmont.

“Hopefully, we’ll be in the state quarterfinals after this weekend,” Valdez said.