Play-off Soccer: Dist 3/4 4A Defending Champs Bellarmine gearing up face Tahoma in Dist Champ; other matches include Olympia over Camas in OT

5/9/2023

6 matches were being contested Tuesday night with 2 semi-finals where all 4 teams are already heading to the state tournament. The other 4 matches were loser out matches which will leave 4 teams. Out of those 4 teams 3 will advance to state. ESN was at the Camas vs Olympia match played at Tumwater District Stadium. Below is our coverage of that critical loser out contest plus results of all the other matches, semi-finals at the bottom with links to other coverage and link to the District Tournament bracket.

Link to Dist 3/4 Boys Soccer Tournament Bracket

The ESN Feature Match

Olympia 2, Camas 1 (OT Shoot-out 4-3) (loser out)

Link to full game replay on NFHS Network

The 1st half was well played by both defenses and one mistake by the Bear defense set up the lone goal of the 1st half giving Camas a PK in the 27th minute. JP Warnell stepped up for the PK and got Oly’s keeper Mason Austin-Ruef to his right while Warnell pulled the shot to the left for the easy score.

That would be the only time Camas got Austin-Ruef to guess wrong as he made 10 1st half saves with some pretty good defense. The Bears backline was also under attack for most of the 1st half but Rogan Wyatt, Max Whitaker, Ryan Merchant and Luke Phillips all cleared the ball many times to deny Camas from doubling up their score.

The Papermakers strikers of Luke Manadic, Jayden Alvez and Warnell applied plenty of pressure on Olympia and dominated time of possession but could not get the ball in the back of the net and the game went to the break 1-0 Camas lead.

As the 2nd half began Olympia’s Ben Scott made the play of the game in the 41st minute when keeper Austin-Ruef made a play for the ball on a shot by Luke Jones for the Papermakers. The ball leaked behind Austin-Ruef and was right in front of a wide open Bears goal when Scott swooped in and cleared the ball just in time to keep the game tied at 1-1.

The Bears then got their offense moving and struck pay dirt off a set piece. Calvin Boyal set up the free kick from the top of the box from the left side and laid a up a perfect lob that Ryan Merchant got on and headed in for the equalizer in the 45th minute. The defenses then dominated and would push this match to overtime where neither team could end it in 2 5-min golden goal (sudden death) OT periods sending the loser out match to a shoot-out.

Camas would go 1st with JP Warnell who shot to the right side where Austin-Ruef got a hand on it but could not stop it to make it 1-0 Papermakers. Olympia’s Calvin Boyal would tie it at 1-1. Camas sent up Mason Teater but this time Austin-Ruef smothered it to deny the goal. Ryan Merchant then knocked in his turn to give Olympia a 2-1 lead. Camas’s Theo McMillian then scored and was countered by Olympia’s Rogan Wyatt and after 3 rounds Olympia led 3-2. The Papermakers Brayden Price shot and scored followed by Olympia’s Micah Wilhelm and it was the Bears up 4-3 entering the final round. Camas had to make this goal or the game was over and Luke Manandick stepped up and tried to pull it to the left but didn’t pull it as far as he wanted and Austin-Ruef stopped it to end the match giving Olympia the 2-1 win in a 4-3 shootout.

Our MVP’s went to Olympia’s Mason Austin-Ruef who had a total of 18 saves in the match and blocked 2 of 5 PK’s in the shoot-out, nearly blocking 3 of the 5. For Camas JP Warnell was the MVP scoring the 1st goal on a PK in the 1st half and then scoring his shot in the shoot-out. A special note to Ben Scott of Olympia who clearly had the play of the game when he saved what would have been an early 2nd half goal and given Camas a 2-0 lead which had a good chance of holding up for the win.

Camas had their season come to an end and finished with a 10-5-2 overall record. The 12th seeded Bears move on in the consolation bracket where there are 4 teams left. 3 of the 4 teams will advance to state. Olympia will have their chance to advance when they face Union on Thursday at 7pm and will be played at Tumwater District Stadium. The bracket may say Art Crate at Bethel high school but we have confirmed the new location and time.

ESN Talks with Olympia’s Mason Austin-Ruef and Ben Scott

ESN talks with Olympia Head Coach Ty Johnson

Video Highlights including the full Shoot-out

Union 3, Mt Rainier 1 (loser out)

Union will play Olympia on Thursday night at Tumwater District Stadium with a 7p Kick-Off time. Winner goes to state, the loser will play on Saturday in a winner to state, loser out match.

Federal Way 4, Kentwood 1 (loser out)

The Eagles advanced in the consolation round with the dominant win and now face Sumner on Thursday night at Art Crate Stadium at Bethel HS with a 7:30p kick-off. Winner to state, loser plays Saturday in a winner to state, loser out match.

Sumner 3, Emerald Ridge 1 (loser out)

The Spartans advanced and will play Federal Way on Thursday in a winner to state contest. The loser plays in a must win match on Saturday.

Semi-Finals (All 4 to state, Winners to District Championships)

Tahoma 2, Puyallup 1

The 2 seeded Tahoma Bears knocked off #3 seed Puyallup and will advance to the District Championship game Thursday night at Bellarmine Prep at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup at 7:30p. The Vikings already advanced to state and will wait to see where the seeding committee sends them for the opening round of state.

Bellarmine Prep 3, Curtis 0

The defending state 4A Champions Bellarmine Prep Lions lost several to graduation last year but the 5 seed is showing this was not a re-building year but rather re-loading and they are coming a live just at the right moment as they rolled over the top seed in the District Tournament the Curtis Vikings. Curtis will now wait to see where they go in the opening round of state while Bellarmine Prep will play for the District Title on Thursday night against Tahoma at 7:30p.