Lakeside loses in State 1A semifinal

PUYALLUP, Wash. – Chloe Cross is turning the State 1A girls soccer tournament into a personal highlight reel.

After scoring five goals in the quarterfinals, Cross netted both her team’s goals, helping Bush to a 2-1 victory over Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) at Sparks Stadium on Friday.

Cross, a senior who will attend Brown on a scholarship, notched her first goal on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute before adding the winner 9 minutes later, snapping the Eagles’ 13-game unbeaten streak and ending the squad’s hope for a state title.

“I can’t say enough great things about the players on my team,” Lakeside coach Brooke Greer said. “They’re just an amazing group of girls. It wasn’t the outcome we wanted, but I am so proud of them.

“We are a very young team that’s never been in this position before, and to make the final four is such an incredible accomplishment.”

Lakeside (15-5-1) will play Vashon, a 4-0 loser to Overlake, today at 10 a.m. for the third-place trophy.

Bush (16-2-2) meets Overlake (17-4-2) in the state title game at 2 p.m. that features two Emerald City League rivals.

Lakeside’s Katie Baran, one of four seniors on the Eagles’ roster, broke a scoreless tie with her 56th-minute goal against the Blazers.

Baran weaved her way through traffic before briefly losing the ball 10 yards in a front of the net.

Baran and Bush goalkeeper Elise Wilcox scrambled for the loose ball with a sliding Baran tapping it under a diving Wilcox and into the net, giving Lakeside a 1-0 lead.

“That was just a great play by Katie and a big goal for us,” Greer said. “You always want to get on the scoreboard first.”

Bush almost immediately found the equalizer, but Lakeside goalie Courtney Kovalesky, who turned away 10 Bush shots, corralled a Cross shot directly in front of the net.

Cross didn’t miss the next time her foot touched the ball, drilling a penalty kick just out of Kovalesky’s reach.

Cross, who scored all five of her team’s goals in a 5-2 quarterfinal victory over Cashmere and both goals in the Blazers’ 2-0 first-round win over University Prep, added her ninth goal of the playoffs after outracing Lakeside defenders to a loose ball, bringing the ball up the left side before rocketing it into the goal.

“We were able to dictate our pressure early,” Greer said. “I think once we got the lead it dropped off a little bit. You can’t do that against a team like Bush.”