HS Soccer: Tumwater Scores Four Unanswered to Defeat WF West

10/1/24

Tumwater 4, WF West 1

(Chehalis, WA) In the second league match for both the Tumwater Thunderbirds and the WF West Bearcats, it was an opportunity to make a statement atop the Evergreen 2A conference. Tumwater’s gauntlet of a schedule to start the season created a battle tested crew that looked to build on their three-match winning streak in which they have outscored their opponents 29-2. For a young Bearcat squad, it was a chance to show the rest of the 2A classification that WF West had arrived and were looking to make a run this season.

There was no feeling out process for these teams as WF West put their foot on the gas early. A foul in the 18-yard box gifted WF West a penalty kick in the 7th minute and the Bearcats took advantage of it. Emily Mallonee stepped up and drilled the PK in the top right quadrant of the goal to put WF West out in front 1-0.

While Tumwater could have been rocked early with their deficit, the T-Birds instead answered adversity by not straying from their gameplan. Trusting the process, Tumwater went right down the field a few minutes late to earn their own PK. Kayla Pope stepped up to immediately erase that one-goal deficit as she knocked in her penalty shot to event he match at 1-1 in the 10th minute.

As we looked to get out our tweet updating the score, Tumwater pushed down the gas pedal even more. Senior standout forward Emalyn Shaffer used her incredible speed to send a ball off of the post but did what every coach begs their players to do, follow their shot. Shaffer pushed right back up to the ball and passed it into the net for an 11th minute goal. In the blink of an eye a ton of action happened but Tumwater had a 2-1 lead over WF West.

Things then slowed down a bit. WF West had a really tough time breaking through the back line of Tumwater. The T-Bird defense was led by Allison Woods and Trinity Edwards with Chloe Foos and Cassidy Hedin on the outside and as a group they kept everything on their attacking half. Forcing the ball up to their forwards, Shaffer really took over. Her ball control combined with her speed was just too much trouble for WF West. However, Tumwater couldn’t add on until the 34th minute when Lucy Bergford threaded a beautiful pass to Shaffer who would hit a perfect one-time shot to make it 3-1 Tumwater at halftime.

Coming out of the break, WF West actually got some pressure and a free kick by Jaelynn Fuentes was just a tiny bit high to keep the Bearcats down by two. Violet Ratkie looked really strong on defense for the Bearcats in the second and slowed down Shaffer as much as she could. That opened thing up on the near side for Reese Heryford. After having an initial shot blocked, Tumwater moved the ball back around to Heryford who found an angle. A nice lofted shot would go in the top left of the net to put the finishing touches on this one. Tumwater extended their lead to 4-1 and would go on to defeat WF West by that same score.

Our Thorbeckes MVP of the match was Emalyn Shaffer for Tumwater. Shaffer was a game wrecker for Tumwater with her speed and tenacity. WF West couldn’t take any time to move the ball up from their back line because of Shaffer’s aggression. Her control led to some strong looks as well for Tumwater and her two first half goals put the T-Bird in a good spot early.

Tumwater’s win moves the T-Birds to 5-1-2 on the season and a perfect 2-0 in EvCo 2A play. They will return to action on Thursday when they play host to Shelton. WF West drops to 5-2 and 1-1 in league play to open October. The Bearcats will hit the road on Thursday with a trip to Aberdeen. Both matches will kick-off at 7pm.

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