Dragons have unique recipe for success

Talk about eclectic soccer.

The State 1A/B playoff-bound St. George’s boys team features a lineup that includes two players they shared with the state championship cross country team and two girls who are major contributors to the Dragons’ 14-2 season.

Assistant coach Pete O’Brien, who welcomed the girls onto the boys team, said they are vital ingredients in the Dragons’ success. Of course, O’Brien has a vested interest. One of them is his daughter, Molly, an outside midfielder. She and defender Alicia Burns are veterans of the club soccer scene.

“Both started every game this year and are real experienced players,” said O’Brien. “We don’t have a girls team here, so their only option would have been to go play in their district schools.

Being so young, transportation would have been an issue. Molly and Alicia would have had to be chauffeured to Lewis and Clark and Central Valley, respectively. The alternative was more attractive and has its advantages.

Playing the boys game is so much faster, Molly said.

“My vision of the field has improved,” she said. “You get a lot more time in the girls game, so I really like this a lot.”

Standing just more than 5-feet each and weighing around 100 pounds the girls aren’t going to win a battle for header balls.

“At first it was a little intimidating. I thought the boys would probably crush me,” said Molly. “But being so small has been advantageous.”

They get by on guile and quickness, akin to mice running through the legs of adults. Molly said she welcomes those who figure it’s easy to steal the ball from a girl. They attack and she leaves them grasping with stops on a dime and quick direction changes while, like a runaway freight train, the bigger frame takes longer to stop and recover.

Alicia has phenomenal positioning ability with which to thwart a larger attacker, Alicia said.

The two boys who shuttled between cross country and soccer are senior Sam Annan and sophomore Howard Lee. Annan ran No. 2 for the Dragons and finished eighth overall at state as they won the Class B title last weekend for the second straight year. Lee was the team’s sixth finisher.

Theirs is a study in time management. Last week they played district soccer matches Thursday and Friday, then it was on the road to Pasco to catch up with their cross country teammates.

“I left Spokane around 3 p.m.,” Annan said. “The team was already down in Pasco walking the course. I showed up in time for dinner.”

Having played soccer since age 6, he figured he’d continue in high school. But he found he liked distance running in middle school and chose both.

A soccer defender, Annan has three goals, all shootout penalty kicks in three victories over Northwest Christian. He plays baseball in the spring.

“Like soccer, I’ve always done baseball since I was little,” he said. “And track is not my strength.”

The pair had to compete in two league meets to be eligible for district. If there were no conflicts they would compete in weekend invitationals.

Now St. George’s and league runner-up Northwest Christian open the state soccer tournament Saturday with games at noon and 2 p.m., respectively, at Gonzaga Prep.

With four team trophies and individual medals in cross country over four years, Annan sets his sites on qualifying for state and perhaps winning his second state title of the fall.

Wouldn’t that be something? An eclectic soccer team that’s poached two boys off a state cross country champion and relies on the contributions of a couple of members of the opposite sex bring more hardware to St. George’s.