11/19/24
On Friday, Federal Way Memorial Field will host the B Girls State Semifinals at 5 PM and 7 PM. The 3rd Place Match will take place on Saturday at 11 AM while the State Championship Match at 3:15 PM. These start times are all approximate, as the B Boys State Semifinals, 3rd Place Match, and State Championship Match will take place at Federal Way Memorial Field, too.
ESN will be streaming all four matches on Friday and Saturday, and you can get to those matches by clicking this link to our broadcast schedule. You will need an NFHS subscription to watch the games, which is only $80 for an annual subscription. That one-time payment gets you a full year of access to every game/match on the NFHS Network, plus games/matches from the last couple of years that are On Demand. You can watch the games on the NFHS Network anywhere in the world, as long as you have an internet connection. There is also a monthly option that is just $12 per month.
The full bracket can be viewed here.
Here is a look at the two semifinal matches, breaking down each team’s season and how they got here.
Semifinal #1 (5 PM Kickoff): #6 Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes vs #2 Crosspoint Christian Wildcats
This will be the third match between Mount Vernon Christian and Crosspoint this season. In the first match at Mount Vernon Christian, the teams played to a 1-1 draw. Ten days ago, the teams reconvened for the District 1/2 Championship Match. Both teams were locked into the State Tournament, but with a trophy on the line, Crosspoint Christian won 2-0 in the rematch. With the third matchup of the season having a berth in the State Championship Match, the stakes will be at their highest in the 2024 season. Here’s how the two sides made it to the State Semis.
Crosspoint Christian comes into the match with a 15-3-1 record as the two-seed. However, they started the year 1-3-0 and have been 14-0-1 since then. Their most recent loss was 5-2 to South Kitsap, who is a 4A school, and that came all the way back on September 19th. In the first round of the tournament, Crosspoint Christian took down 15-seed Pateros 5-0. The Wildcats earned another shutout in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over 10-seed Tonasket. The Wildcats have shutout their opponents in 11 straight matches, and the last goal allowed came against Mount Vernon Christian in their 1-1 draw. Crosspoint Christian is also the defending State Champs and will be looking to repeat as State Champions for the second time in a decade when they repeated in 2013 and 2014.
For the fifth straight State Tournament, the Mount Vernon Christian Hurricanes have made it in the dance, but only the second time they’ve won a match. In 2019, Mount Vernon Christian made it to the Championship Match but lost 1-0 to Davenport and, before this year, lost three straight State Tournament matches. Mount Vernon Christian comes into the State Semis with a record of 16-3-1. Other than the draw and loss to Crosspoint Christian, Mount Vernon Christian’s other losses have come to Sedro-Wooley and Mount Vernon, who both had winning records in 3A. In the first round of State, the Hurricanes shutout Adna 2-0 before going on the road to the three-seed Cle Elum-Roslyn last weekend and winning 1-0. The Hurricanes are the lowest seed remaining as the six seed but share the same amount of losses and draws as three of the four remaining teams. This is the sixth time that Mount Vernon Christian has made State in their program’s history, and are seeking their first State Title.
Semifinal #2 (7 PM Kickoff): #4 Northwest Christian (Colbert) Crusaders vs #1 Freeman Scotties
Like the first semifinal, this one is a rematch of two teams very familiar with each other. The top two teams out of the Northeast 2B League, Freeman and Northwest Christian (Colbert) have played each other three times already, with two of those matches being one-goal games. The first time they met was in late September, and Freeman won on their home turf 4-3. A few weeks later, Northwest Christian hosted, but the result was the same, a one-goal win for Freeman, but this time it was 2-1. In their third match of the season, the District Championship was on the line, and Freeman would get the 4-0 win to get their third win over the Crusaders and the District title. These two teams know each other about as well as two teams in the state can, which should set up a dramatic scene on Friday night.
The Northwest Christian (Colbert) Crusaders have used a powerful offense to roll through the 2024 season. The only two times they’ve been held to under two goals in a match were their two most recent matches against Freeman. Their lone draw on the season was a 4-4 draw against Lewis and Clark who came one win away from making the 4A State Tournament. The Crusaders defense is impressive too, with their last five wins being shutouts. Northwest Christian boasts an impressive record of 17-3-1 and is the four-seed in this year’s State Tournament. Last year, the Crusaders took home fourth place after losing to Crosspoint Christian in the semis and Davenport in the 3rd place match, which was their best finish in their school’s history. In this year’s State Tournament, Northwest Christian took down the 13-seed Brewster 3-0 before defeating five-seed Napavine by the same score.
The Freeman Scotties have been perfect this season, going 19-0-0, and 16 of those wins have been multi-goal victories. Freeman has only allowed 12 goals all season, four of them were scored by Northwest Christian (Colbert). Freeman has scored at least two goals in every match while shutting out their opposition 12 times. The Scotties average scoring a staggering 7.42 goals per game and have found the back of the net 141 times in their 19 matches. As the one-seed, Freeman defeated Evergreen Lutheran in the first round 12-0 and, in the Quarterfinals, took down eight-seed Highland with a 3-0 victory. Freeman and 1A’s Seton Catholic are the only two teams playing this weekend with a perfect season. Before the tournament started, Freeman had two total wins in their previous eight State appearances. They’ve matched that this year, and have guaranteed themselves their best season in school history, as Freeman had never previously placed in the Girls State Soccer Tournament.
www.elisportsnetwork.com
