4/29/17

Ridgefield 3, Mark Morris 2

Woodland 2, RA Long 1

(Ridgefield, WA) Columbia River has wrapped up the GSHL 2A Soccer Championship and the #1 south seed into the District Tournament. There is quite a race for 2nd and for 4th. 2nd place is important because they get to host the 1st round District Tournament match. Ridgefield took a step closer to securing that important 2nd spot with a tight win over Mark Morris. Only RA Long can catch the Spudders but will have to sweep their final 2 and Ridgefield will have to lose the finale to Columbia River.

Both teams clearly knew what was on the line and both were aggressive trying to angle a shot and grab an early lead. Although Ridgefield clearly had the advantage early they were not successful in punching one in. Monarchs keeper Eric Flores was kept busy and denied the Spudders. Head Coach Harold West was directing his squad to cut off the attackers and try gain possession and Morris avoided several close calls.

Ridgefield’s Jason Osborn finally cracked the code in the 32nd minute. Flores punched a shot down and Osborn did not give up and charged in head first and knocked in the goal giving the Spudders a 1-0 lead and that’s how it would stand going to halftime.

In the 2nd half Ridgefield added to their lead just 11 minutes in when Osborn led Kyle Radosevich and Radosevich finished it off and the Spudders had some breathing space with a 2-0 lead. But that breath was short lived as Morris rallied just 4 minutes later.

Mark Morris had limited opportunities but took advantage of one those chances in the 55th when Ethan West kicked it in off a pass from Scott Mathews and the Monarchs were back in it down 2-1. Mark Morris would then even the match just 3 minutes later, this time it was Mathews. Mathews took a defensive clearance ball in and fired it past Lindbo who was charging. The shot was low and to the side of Lindbo and got past him before he had a chance to drop down.

Mark Morris then had a chance to take the lead on a hard shot from Julian Valenciano but Lindbo came up with our ProActive Physical Therapy Play of the Game by punching the shot at the last second over the top keeping the match tied.

Ridgefield got the winning goal in the 68th on an odd looking play. Travis Gottsch lobbed a pass into the box and looked like he didn’t pull it far enough to the left for an on-rushing teammate. The ball bounced in front of MM keeper Flores and then bounced over his head and rolled in.

Mark Morris had a couple other chances late in the match but the Spudders held firm and denied the Monarchs holding on to the 3-2 win. Ridgefield improved 8-3 while Mark Morris drops to 4-7. Our Tommy Lowe of Greene Realty Players of the Game went to the Spudders Kyle Radosevich and Mark Morris’ Scott Mathews.

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Woodland 2, RA Long 1 (2nd OT)

(Longview, WA) What a difference 4 hours can make here in the Springtime of Western Washington. As we played under sunny skies and warm temperatures in Ridgefield we then traveled 20 miles north for a 7pm game at RA Long hosting Woodland and clouds had rolled in and a steady rain with cooler temperatures were back in place.

The slick conditions appeared to have helped the Lumberjacks get their first goal and to take a 1-0 lead in just the 6th minute when Brady Anderson served one up looking for an attacker to take it in from just outside the box when the ball skidded instead of bounced on Beaver keeper Filiberto Alamilla and slid underneath his hands into the goal.

The Beavers came back strong just 11 minutes later as they penetrated into the Jacks box and Mark Gomez sidestepped a defender and got RAL keeper Jose Radillo to go one way and he slipped on the wet grass and Gomez knocked it opposite side for the equalizer tying it 1-1 and that’s how it went to halftime all even.

It was hard to figure how neither team could find a way to knock in a 2nd half goal. Both made significant runs on both ends of the field but both keepers were simply shut down. Woodland’s Filiberto Alamilla and RA Long’s Jose Radillo both earned our Tommy Lowe of Greene Realty Players of the Game for their efforts.

Since the match could not be decided in the 40-minutes of the 2nd half they headed to a 5-minute golden goal OT. Woodland got 1st run and fired a hard shot at the Jack’s goal but Radillo came up with a ridiculous save to deny the Beavers. It was RAL’s turn next hammering home a shot that Alamilla said nope, not tonight.

In the 2nd sudden death OT the Jacks got first run but again a high shot over the top. It appeared we were headed for a shoot-out to decide this but in stoppage time the Beavers put together a scoring combination to stun the Jacks with little time remaining. As a shot came into the box there was a jumble of players and Woodland’s Trent Snead found an alley and headed in the game winner. This was easy to name as our ProActive Physical Therapy Play of the Game.

Woodland’s season is over finishing with a 5-7 record and now they need help from the team they just beat RA Long to knock off Hockinson in their final match. Mark Morris is 4-7 after losing to Ridgefield today and  faces winless Wash0ugal in their finale and Woodland is hoping for a 2 or 3 way tie for 4th, the final postseason birth. If Hockinson beats RA Long those two will tie for 3rd and a tie-breaker will be used to determine district seeding. Columbia River has wrapped up the league Championship and Ridgefield has now clinched 2nd place. RA Long has clinched a District play-off birth and will end up with either the 3rd or 4th seed.

Photo Gallery (Ridgefield/Mark Morris)

Photo Gallery (Woodland/RA Long)