HS Girls Soccer: Napavine Gets 1-0 Win over Highland

9/24/24

Napavine 1, Highland 0

(Napavine, WA) It is a 2 hour and 49-minute drive from Highland High School in Cowiche all the way to Tiger Stadium in Napavine. The Highland Scotties girls soccer team made that trip on Tuesday afternoon for a 2B nonleague showdown with the Napavine Tigers. Both teams came into the season with high hopes of getting to the final four as former Kalama head coach John Bates looked to take a new program to the same heights he took Kalama in year one in Napavine. He is familiar with Highland from his time in Kalama as the Scotties were a regular in the state tournament the last few years, finishing 3rd in 2021, 4th in 2022, and reaching the quarterfinals just last year.

Early on in the match it seemed like the long drive had an effect on the Scotties as they were a little slow to get going. Napavine would be the aggressors early behind some attacks on the right side with Hannah Fay and Grace Pancake. Highland’s backline did a nice job of starting strong however and kept life pretty stress free for keeper Aylin Aguilera. The goalie did get some action however but kept Napavine out of the back of the net.

As the opening half went on, Highland began to get some pressure of their own on the Tiger defense. Madeline Ceja really began to takeover and had the speed needed to transition the Scotties from defense to attack. Julissa Gonzalez also had her moments in the attack but the defense of Clara Fay, Maddie Dickinson, Maya Kunkel, and Ellie Gilbert kept the ball away from their keeper in Taylen Evander. There weren’t too many high quality opportunities for either side as the match was scoreless at halftime.

In the 2nd half, it was Highland pushing the pace early. The Scotties began to push up their back line to try to smother the ball into their attacking third. Slowly but surely the Napavine Tigers began to piece together their counter opportunities. In the 54th minute, Hannah Fay used her dangerous combination of speed and ball control to weave through the back line. Fay then found Hayden Kaut who took a couple of touches to get a better angle before firing a perfect shot into the back of the net. The two-player attack got Napavine on the board with a 1-0 lead.

Napavine looked to make it 2-0 but a terrific save by Aylin Aguilera denied that opportunity. Coach Bates also made a move to drop Hannah Fay back to shadow Madeline Ceja in an attempt to neutralize Ceja’s speed and it worked pretty well. Highland brought Frida Paniagua off the bench and that seemed to light a spark in the Scotties attack. Good communication by both defenses just made it almost impossible to get any good looks at goal. The one was enough for Napavine as they hung on late to defeat Highland 1-0.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match went to Hannah Fay for Napavine. Fay was all over the field consistently and never slowed down despite playing all 80 minutes. Fay assisted on the lone goal and then played very strong defense late on Ceja to prevent any quick counters for Highland. Fay’s high octane play led the way for a strong Tiger victory.

Napavine moves to 3-2 on the season with their third consecutive victory. The Tigers will have some time off now as they won’t be back in action until next Wednesday, October 2nd when they open up league play at home against Raymond-South Bend. For Highland, they drop to 1-5-1 and put an end to their grueling nonleague schedule. The Scotties open up EWAC play on Thursday when they host Granger at 6pm.

Link to watch the full game replay on the NFHS Network (Subscription required)