11/17/2023
The 2A and 1A State Soccer Tournaments were held at Mt Tahoma High School. Our coverage of all 8 games is below.
2A Tournament
Friday, November 17 Semi-Finals
Ridgefield 1, Columbia River 0
For the third time this season the Ridgefield Spudders and Columbia River Rapids met on the soccer field but this time the stakes were much higher. With the winner headed to the state championship, Columbia River was well on their way to a repeat as state champions. However, the old saying is that it’s hard to beat the same team twice three times in a season and that proved to be true this time around as Ridgefield knocked off their league rivals 1-0 on a free kick by defender Keaira Farley in the 33rd minute.
West Valley (Spo) 1, East Valley (Yak) 0
In the second 2A semifinal it was a battle of the valleys as #1 seed and undefeated West Valley of Spokane took on the #4 seed in East Valley of Yakima. The East Valley Red Devils came out very aggressive and controlled possession for the first 15-20 minutes of the match and put pressure on the defense of the West Valley Eagles. West Valley then took the match over and controlled possession from there on out. In the final seconds of the opening half, a corner for West Valley was knocked around inside the 18 before Anastacia Thompson fired it in with her right foot to give West Valley a 1-0 lead. That was the only goal scored of the match as West Valley stayed perfect and advanced to the 2A championship.
Saturday, November 18
3rd Place Match
Columbia River 2, East Valley (Yak) 1
To kick off day two, the defending champions in Columbia River tried to capture a third-place finish against East Valley. It would not be easy for the Rapids as East Valley came out very disciplined and were playing fundamentally sound soccer. Those fundamentals led to the Red Devils striking first with a fastbreak goal by Ariana Lopez in the 22nd minute. The Rapids fought back and evened things up just before halftime on a free kick from Peyton Dukes to make it 1-1. Columbia River would be the team to break the tie when Paige Johnson found the back of the net in the 68th minute to give Columbia River the 2-1 win and a third-place finish while East Valley completed a very strong season with the fourth-place trophy.
2A Championship Match
Ridgefield 3, West Valley (Spo) 2 (PKs)
In what might go down as the best match of the weekend, the #7 seeded Ridgefield Spudders completed their spectacular state run with their first state championship in program history with a thrilling victory over the previously unbeaten West Valley Eagles. It was not just a nice easy, stressless win however. This championship game had major ups and downs for both sides and was not decided until the very last kick of the ball.
An action packed first half saw Ridgefield really pressure the West Valley defense while the Eagles tried to work into a rhythm offensively. Ridgefield would be called for a hand ball in the 30th minute just outside of the 18, giving West Valley a free kick. Genesis Willis came up from her defensive position and added on to her already stellar opening half. Willis delivered a perfect ball to Ashlyn Chase who was able to head it past the Ridgefield keeper. While Ridgefield controlled the time of possession in the first half, the perfectly executed set piece gave West Valley the halftime lead at 1-0.
Coming out of halftime, the Spudders continued to fire shots from outside of the 18 but not put anything by Aubrey Lobdell in goal for West Valley. The defensive quartet of Genesis Willis, Chloe Van Wey, Sutton Nordhus, and Anastacia Thompson kept the Spudders off the scoreboard until they got their own set piece opportunity. A corner kick taken by Keaira Farley in the 57th minute was headed in by Brielle Suomi who came off the bench to even the match at 1-1. However it did not stay even for too long as in the 66th minute, Kyia Silva responded with a goal of her own to give the Eagles back the lead at 2-1.
Things then began to look very bleak for Ridgefield down the stretch. The clock continued to put more and more pressure on them to find an equalizer while West Valley continued to try to keep the ball out of their defending third. The Eagles tried to get Lauren Matthew involved on the wing but Ridgefield made sure to keep it a one goal match. Then, in the 75th minute, Ridgefield pulled out one last trick. After peppering shots on goal from outside the 18 all match long, Ellie Wilson fired a rocket that was able to give the Spudders life. The ball went into the top left corner and Ridgefield had found their equalize to tie the match at 2-2 and send it to OT.
In both overtime periods, Ridgefield dominated. The Spudders had more opportunities and had the better opportunities. Aubrey Lobdell did everything she could to prevent a golden goal and she was successful in doing so. The match went to a penalty kick shootout. Through three rounds of PKs, the shootout was even at 1-1. Then the Spudders made their move. After hitting their PK and stopping the West Valley attempt, Ridgefield led 2-1 and just had to hit their goal to capture the state title. Senior defender Ava Kruckenberg stepped up and ended her high school career on the highest note possible. Kruckenberg drilled the final PK into the back of the net and the celebration was on as Ridgefield won the shootout 3-1 to take the match over West Valley 3-2 to capture their first ever 2A girls soccer state championship.
Our MVP of the championship match was of course Ava Kruckenberg who played a very strong match defensively and then also took the high pressure shot to clinch the state championship. Most seniors want to just go out as a champion, but Kruckenberg got to take that even a step further by playing hero in the championship win.
You can check out the entire match replay on-demand in the link below. We also have highlights including the entire PK shootout below as well.
Highlights
West Valley Strikes First
Ridgefield Equalizer
West Valley Takes a Late Lead
Ridgefield Forces OT
Full Penalty Kick Shootout
1A Tournament
Friday, November 17 Semi-Finals
Seattle Academy 1, Montesano 0
To open up the 1A semifinals, we had a pretty physical match between the #6 Montesano Bulldogs and #3 Seattle Academy Cardinals. Montesano dominated the first half but some incredible saves by keeper Anica Carpenter kept the match scoreless. Riley Timmons had some late saves for Montesano as well in the opening 40. In the second half, Seattle Academy made some clear adjustments and took control of the match. In the 53rd minute, Sydney Lennard put a beautiful ball in the attacking third and Eloise Maddox finished it off for what turned out to be the match winner. The goal put Seattle Academy into the state championship with a 1-0 win over Montesano thanks to a spectacular match from Anica Carpenter.
Klahowya 3, La Center 0
For the final game of day one, the defending 1A state champions in the Klahowya Eagles looked to punch their ticket to the state championship against the La Center Wildcats who were making their first girls soccer final four appearance in program history. The reigning champs wasted no time as Bailey Watlund scored in the opening minute to make it 1-0. She would add another goal in the second half on an assist by Raven Stoner. Stoner also scored a goal of her own as Klahowya gave themselves a nice lead as they rolled to a 3-0 win.
Saturday, November 18
3rd Place Match
Montesano 3, La Center 1
In a rematch of a district championship match from just a couple of weeks before, the Montesano Bulldogs took on the La Center Wildcats for third-place in the 1A bracket. While it was La Center beating Montesano in the first meeting 3-0, this time it would be the Bulldogs putting up three goals to earn the win. Alexa Stanfield put in two of those goals while the opening goal of the match came from Jaelyn Butterfield off an assist from Addison Potts. La Center avoided the shutout with a goal from Shaela Bradley but it would not be enough. Montesano earned the 3-1 win but both programs earned their best finish in their program’s history with Montesano coming in third and La Center finishing fourth.
1A Championship Match
Seattle Academy 2, Klahowya 1
After starting off their weekend with a very rough half of soccer, the Seattle Academy Cardinals finished it off with 120 minutes of high-level play en route to winning their sixth state championship in program history with a 2-1 win over the Klahowya Eagles.
Both teams had the typical feeling out process in the opening minutes of the match. Seattle Academy was a bit more aggressive than Klahowya as the Eagles tried to adjust to the speed and crisp ball movement of Seattle Academy. The opportunities that Klahowya did have were shutdown by Anica Carpenter in goal for Seattle Academy. A foul in the 18 gave Seattle Academy a penalty kick in the 17th minute. Isla McNae stepped up and buried the PK to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead that they would take into halftime.
This time it was Klahowya that made the halftime adjustments. As the match went on both the quality of opportunities for Klahowya and the physicality started to rise. A foul called against Seattle Academy ended up giving Klahowya the opportunity they needed to even the match. Addyson Dickey took a free kick just outside the 18 and placed it perfectly over the keeper for the equalizer in the 59th minute as the match was quickly even at 1-1.
It looked as though we were headed to another overtime championship match. In the 69th minute, things changed. A free kick for Seattle Academy was taken by Isla McNae and she put the ball right in the middle of the 18. The ball was then batted around by both teams before goalie Ella Bottalico slapped the ball away. It would go right to Sydney Lennard and she quickly fired it back in for the go-ahead goal to make it 2-1.
That chaos goal forced Klahowya to really put all the pressure they could on Seattle Academy in the final 10 minutes. Raven Stoner led the charge for the Eagles but the defense of Seattle Academy was too strong on this night. Molly Eamer led the defensive performance with Addison Bay and Malea Carroll doing a great job supporting on the outside. The defensive stand was strong enough to shutdown the last attacks from Klahowya and Seattle Academy celebrated the 2-1 victory and another state championship.
Our MVP of the championship match was Sydney Lennard who scored the game winner for the Cardinals. While that was the big moment for her and the Cardinals, Lennard did plenty more. She once again had some fantastic crosses into the 18-yard box to try to help the Cardinals extend their lead consistently throughout the half. It felt like every time a big play was being made on either side of the field for the Cardinals, it was Lennard right there in the thick of things to help Seattle Academy hang on to their win.
You can check out the entire match replay on-demand in the link below. We also have highlights of every goal as well down below.
Highlights
Seattle Academy Strikes First
Klahowya Evens It Up
Seattle Academy Championship Winner
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