Boys soccer notebook: GSL 4A still up for grabs
If Central Valley wants to repeat as Greater Spokane League boys soccer champions, the Bears will have to earn it.
With two matches left in the regular season, CV is in a three-way tie at 6-1 with Ferris and Lewis and Clark – the same teams it faces this week.
“We’ll be ready,” promised CV coach Andres Monrroy, whose team has won two straight since a 2-1 loss to Mead on April 15.
“That loss reminds us that we have to come prepared for every match, that we have the target on our backs,” Monrroy said.
Since then, the Bears have beaten University and Gonzaga Prep by a combined score of 9-0, mostly by “connecting our passes,” Monrroy said.
That will need to happen again in Wednesday night’s home match against Ferris, which has won six straight and hasn’t conceded a goal since March 25.
“The kids are really starting to understand that all 11 players have to play defense, not just four,” said coach Robin Crain, whose Saxons have made deep postseason runs a habit of late.
Defensively, center back Max Thompson “has solidified and organized things,” Crain said. “He has the athletic ability to keep up with anybody.”
A win would put the Saxons (8-2 overall) in great shape to earn at least a share of the regular-season title, as the Saxons end the week against last-place Rogers. If Ferris wins both matches, it would go into district play as the top seed.
Meanwhile, LC (11-1 overall) is at G-Prep on Wednesday. The Tigers – who lost 1-0 to Ferris on April 13 – are hoping for a CV win over the Saxons. Combined with an LC win over Prep, that would set up a de facto title match against CV on Friday at Hart Field.
Since the loss to Ferris, LC has focused on “simply putting the ball in the net and not trying for that ‘pretty goal,’” coach Mica Lamb said.
In Friday’s 4-1 win over Mead, most of the points came on what Lamb calls “toughness goals” – winning in the air inside the penalty box and following up on misses.
“Those are the kind of goals we need going forward,” Lamb said.
Meanwhile, either Mead or G-Prep (both 5-2 in GSL) could still finish as high as second in the final standings. University (1-6) already has been eliminated from postseason contention.
4A District play opens May 3 with a loser-out match between the fourth- and fifth-place finishers.
3A: Mt. Spokane (3-4 in the GSL) is in the driver’s seat for the top seed at district. The Wildcats are a game ahead of North Central and two up on Rogers and Shadle Park.
The last-place team in the 3A ranks won’t advance to district, which opens with a loser-match match on May 3 between the second- and third-seeded teams.
2A: The Great Northern League title may be decided Tuesday afternoon in Pullman, where the Greyhounds (8-2 in the GNL with two matches left) and East Valley (7-2) will face off.