updated 5/20/2023
The State 4A Soccer Tournament kicked off on Tuesday with 5 1st round matches, the other 3 will be played Wednesday night. If the metches on Wednesday play out like the 1st 5 then anything can happen with the 10, 13 and 14 seeds all winning and the 16 seed losing 2-1 to the 1 seed and the 2 seed beating the 15 1-0.
Our feature match was #13 Davis at Curtis and that is the match we will have highlights and re-cap. The other matches we will link any other coverage by other media sources if they are available. All matches are winners advance to quarterfinals and losers are out.
Quarterfinal Matches
Saturday, May 20
#6 Skyline 6, # 14 Sumner 1
Sumner stunned #3 Pasco in the opening round while Skyline beat the #11 seed Chiawana setting up a Spartan vs Spartan showdown. Skyline proved to be too much for Sumner and the Sumner season ended on Saturday. Skyline advances to the semi-finals at Sparks Stadium un Puyallup on Friday and will play #2 Tahoma at 4:30p.
#13 Davis 3, #12 Union 2 (OT PK’s)
It was 12 vs 13 and the host team Davis won their 2nd straight state tournament soccer match by going to PKs. The Pirates eliminated #2 Curtis in a shoot-out while Union handled #5 Gonzaga Prep. The Pirates held firm and pulled out another stunning win to get to the Final 4. Davis takes on #8 Puyallup on Friday at 7pm in Puyallup at Sparks Stadium.
Click here to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network
#8 Puyallup 3, #1 Newport 2
The #8 Puyallup Vikings survived a tough SPSL season and did enough to get to state. That’s the goal of many teams, just get to state. This was simply a path for the Vikings toward their ultimate goal of the State Championship. Puyallup had to go to PKs to get by Wenatchee in the opener and then got to face the #1 seeded Newport team on Saturday and knocked off the top seed to advance to the Semi-Finals on Friday night on their home field of Sparks Stadium against the surprising Davis Pirates.
Friday, May 19
#2 Tahoma 4, #10 Bellarmine Prep
the Bearas had just beaten the Lions for the District Championship but now they have eliminated the 4A defending soccer champs for good in the quarterfinals and have advanced to the state final 4. Tahoma awaits the winner of today’s Skyline vs Sumner winner to find out who they play in the semi-finals next Friday. For more on this match read about it in the Tacoma News Tribune.
Click here to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network
Opening Round Matches
Wednesday, May 17 Matches
Feature Match
#8 Puyallup 2, Wenatchee 1 (5-3 PK’s)
This very physical match came down to what you would expect the 8 vs 9 seeds to come down too, a shoot-out. Wenatchee’s Anthony Garcia would get the Panthers on the board first with a beautiful angle shot in the 32nd minute. Puyallup got the equalizer off a corner kick in the 38th or stoppage time when Jacob Goter finished off the attack to even the match at 1-1 just before halftime and that’s what it would remain to the break.
In the 2nd half despite several great chances for each squad to take the lead both backlines and keepers, Tanner Russell with 9 saves for Wenatchee and Alexis Cruz-Hernandez for the Vikings with 6 saves kept the score tied at 1-1. This push the game into 2 Golden Goal OT’s and still tied 1-1 which sent the game to PK’s.
Puyallup went first and scored. Wenatchee’s 1st attempt was knocked down by Cruz-Hernandez who read the shot perfectly. Each team would not miss and with the score 4-3 in favor of Puyallup heading into the 5th round it was again Jacob Goter for the Vikings who iced the match as Russell guessed wrong and went to his right when Goter pulled it the other way for the clinching shot.
Our MVP’s went to Puyallup’s Jacob Goter and Wenatchee’s Anthony Garcia. Puyallup will play #1 seed Newport in the quarterfinals. The match is set for 7pm on Saturday night at Newport High School. The winner will move onto the final 4, loser is done for the season.
Click here to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network
ESN Post Game Show
Full Shoot-Out
Scoring Highlights
#6 Skyline 3, Chiawana 1
Skyline gets the win and advances to the quarterfinals with a solid win over Chiawana. Skyline will next face Sumner in a winner to final 4, loser out contest.
#12 Union 4, #5 Gonzaga Prep 1
#12 Union put it the 5-seed G-Prep with a convincing win on the road. Union will travel to Davis in Yakima on Saturday for a 7pm kick-off against the Pirates in a battle between the 12 and 13 seeds with one of those team guaranteed a trip to the final 4.
Click here to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network
Tuesday, May 16
ESN Feature Match
#13 Davis 1, #4 Curtis 0
This match could not have been closer with Curtis’s 2nd half keeper Jose Zuniga making a terrific save with about a minute to play in stoppage and looked like maybe that would be enough to push the match to overtime in a scoreless tie.
Davis got the ball back and were fouled just across the mid-field line. In a set piece with less than a minute to play the Pirates Jorge Ibarra launched a high lifting shot into the box where it was headed between a defender and offensive player that went to the left. This is where one of the most brilliant plays you will see occurred. We talked with Juan Diaz after the game and he told us the Pirates weakness is winning headers so as the ball floated deeper into the box Diaz released the defender and backed up. The defender then heads it right to Diaz who knocks home the lone and winning goal before anyone even knew what happened.
It was simple great preparation meeting opportunity or what some of us call luck. Diaz made his own luck and made Curtis pay for it and leads Davis to the quarterfinals on Saturday. That was certainly the play of the game, but Diaz did not get our MVP, that would go to Pirates keeper Alexander Capi who was a brick wall in goal and kept the score tied giving the offense to come up with that huge play to win it. Capi had 9 saves in the match.
Curtis had many chances to knock in a goal or two and led in time of possession and their defense and keepers both played solid matches with just the single shot getting through. The Vikings offense led by Javi Luevanos and Julian Valencia were very active but could not get the right scoring combination.
Our MVP’s went to the Pirates Alexander Capi and the Vikings Javi Luevanos. Davis improved to 15-4-0 and Curtis finishes the season 13-2-3. Davis will play either #5 Gonzaga Prep or #12 Union on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
Final note, both teams played exceptionally hard and at the same time played with class and sportsmanship. Even the crowd cheered their teams on and focused on the positive from what we could tell. This was a shining example of what High School sports is supposed to be about and simply a magnificent High School sports contest. Well done Pirates and Vikings!
Click here to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network
ESN Post Game Show
ESN talks with the Pirates Juan Diaz and Coach Gonzalez
Highlights
Other 1st Round Scores
#14 Sumner 2, #3 Pasco 0
The Spartans got battle tested through a rigorous regular season in the SPSL and carried that over for a decisive win over the 3 seeded Bulldogs. Sumner will host Skyline in the quarterfinals at noon on Saturday at Sunset Stadium.
#10 Bellarmine Prep 3, #7 Eastlake 0
The defending state 4A Champions are serving notice they do not intend to let the big trophy out of their trophy case with a shut out win. The Lions move on to the quarterfinals and will play at Tahoma Friday night at 7pm. For more on this match check out the soccer round-up in the Tacoma News Tribune.
Click here to watch the B Prep-Eastlake full game replay on the NFHS Network
#2 Tahoma 1, #15 Bothell 0
The Bears survived a scare from the 15 seed and will now get the defending 4A Champs, Bellarmine Prep in a game at Tahoma High School at 7pm on Friday night.
#1 Newport 2, #16 Federal Way 1
Newport escaped dropping to the 16 seeded Federal Way Eagles and will move onto the quarterfinals and will host the winner of the Wenatchee at Puyallup match.
Click here to watch the Fed Way-Newport full game replay on the NFHS Network
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