Wildcats storm from behind to win soccer playoff game
November 14, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
After waiting two years, then an extra 24 hours, then 71 minutes, it began to seem as if fate simply wasn’t on the side of the Mount Si girls soccer team.
In a matter of nine minutes, however, all of that changed.
The Mount Si soccer team celebrates its first-round Class 3A state playoff victory against Bonney Lake Thursday night.
The Wildcats scored two goals in the final nine minutes to score a dramatic, come-from-behind 2-1 victory against Bonney Lake in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs Thursday night at home.
Mount Si — which missed the playoffs last season and then had to wait an extra day to play this one because of flood warnings — handed Bonney Lake its first defeat of the season and moved into the state quarterfinals to take on top-ranked Kennedy at 1 p.m. Saturday at Highline Stadium.
Needless to say, it was worth the wait.
“That was one of the most dramatic finishes I’ve seen in a long, long time. It was pure adrenaline all the way through,” Mount Si head coach Darren Brown said. “You don’t see that happen very often.”
The Wildcats, the KingCo 3A/2A champions this season, fell behind 1-0 when Panthers standout Savannah Moorehouse scored an unassisted goal in the 58th minute.
That prompted Brown to move Mount Si star Nikki Stanton up top, and the Wildcat offense went on the attack. After several fast breaks nearly ended in points, Brittany Conway finally put Mount Si on the board with an unassisted goal in the 71st minute to tie it up, 1-1.
The Wildcats didn’t back off from there and, with less than a minute left, Stanton managed to move the ball deep into the Bonney Lake side of the field, just to the right of the goal. The Panthers overplayed that side defensively, and Stanton rifled a pass to a wide-open Conway in front of the goal. Conway was able to then tap the game-winner in.
Of course, the drama still wasn’t finished. With mere seconds left, Moorehouse broke free of the Mount Si defense and had only goal keeper Marika Loudenback standing in the way of a game-tying goal. But Loudenback made a save and the Wildcats stormed the field in celebration.
“I knew that we had to push it at the end,” Conway said. “I thought some girls might think the game was over, so I thought if I picked it up, maybe it would pick the rest of the team up. And it ended up paying off.”
Conway said her game-winner was one of the easiest — and most exciting — goals she’s had.
“It was all Nikki. She fed it to me and I just had to tap it in. She did all the work,” she said. “This is very exciting. I think this will provide a lot of momentum from here.”
Bonney Lake, the SPSL 3A champ, finishes the season 15-1-2. Moorehouse finishes with an impressive 24 goals and 7 assists for 55 points on the season.
“They had a lot of opportunities. They’re a very good team,” Brown said. “But we’d been put in that kind of situation all year long, where we’ll be down a goal and have to persevere and come back.”
Kennedy also is unbeaten this season at 19-0-1, after dismantling Camas 3-0 in a first-round playoff game Wednesday night. With a win, Mount Si would move into the state semifinals for the first time ever.
Reach editor Ryan Piersol at editor@snovalleystar.com or 392-6434.
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