Published: Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Granite Falls soccer team closes in on playoff spot
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Elizabeth Armstrong / The Herald
Granite Falls' Cacia Stevens (2, left) controls the ball during the final minutes of the second half while battling South Whidbey's Julia Iversen (right). Stevens scored two goals for the Tigers in their 4-0 victory over the Falcons.
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Elizabeth Armstrong / The Herald
Granite Falls' Katie Cashman (3) comes from behind to keep the ball away from South Whidbey's Shannon Craig (2). Cashman scored two goals in the game.
GRANITE FALLS -- The Granite Falls girls soccer team has been waiting to be in this position for several years.
The Tigers have endured sixth- and fifth-place Cascade Conference finishes and early district tournament exits the past two seasons, and this season the coaches' poll picked them to finish sixth in the league.
But with Tuesday's 4-0 victory over South Whidbey, the Tigers find themselves alone in third place -- second among Class 2A teams -- and poised to host a first-round district playoff game next week.
"We're starting to beat quality teams," Granite Falls head coach Pat Pawlak said. "We put in the effort the last two years being really young and we're still young, but now we're starting to see the benefits ... ."
The Tigers' quality wins include a 4-3 shootout victory over third-place and 2007 2A state tournament quarterfinalist Cedarcrest on Oct. 16, and a 2-1 victory over 2007 1A state semifinalist King's on Sept. 30.
"It's a good way to end the season, especially with the struggles we had in the middle," Pawlak said. "It's a good building point for the playoffs, and more importantly for next year, too."
On Tuesday, Granite Falls built a 2-0 lead early and cruised to the Cascade Conference win, avenging a 4-2 loss at South Whidbey on Sept. 27.
Sophomore Cacia Stevens opened the scoring with goals in the 10th and 14th minutes.
"When (Stevens) scored those first two goals, we got all pumped up," said fellow sophomore Katie Cashman, who added two goals of her own to ice the contest. Cashman's goals came in the in the 32nd and 78th minutes.
Kaitlan Howell had two assists, Brittany McGinnis and Kassi Hoerner each added one and sophomore Kelsey Carlson recorded the shutout at goalkeeper.
"We came in focused," junior co-captain KatyAnn Powers said. "We said, 'This is the game we need to win.' We worked so hard at Cedarcrest. We worked so hard at King's. Why not just solidify it after all that hard work?"
The hard work isn't over. Granite Falls travels to King's on Thursday and wraps up the regular season with last-place Sultan at home on Saturday. A win against either opponent would clinch at least a tie with Cedarcrest for second place among 2A teams and Granite Falls holds the tiebreaker.
"That's good. That (would be) the highest we've ever finished," said Pawlak, who is in his fifth season. "That's a good place to be because we're pretty good at home and that means we get to host the first-round game. That will be important -- playing at home."
The Tigers would love to see their labors in the past two seasons come to fruition.
"We came out this year as the underdogs," Powers said. "We were so close last year, but we weren't quite there yet. ... This year we came through and we worked so hard at every practice and we worked so hard last summer and we just put in our time to be as good as we are now. This was so big for us."
With the victory, Granite Falls improved to 8-4 in Cascade Conference play and 9-4 overall.
"Our goal was to play on the last day of districts and this is a good step in that direction," Pawlak said. "It puts us in a better position than if we have to travel."
South Whidbey dropped to 6-6 in league and overall. Should the Falcons remain in fourth place, they would have to defeat the fifth-place team from the Northwest Conference in a play-in game to reach the District 1 Tournament.
The Tigers have endured sixth- and fifth-place Cascade Conference finishes and early district tournament exits the past two seasons, and this season the coaches' poll picked them to finish sixth in the league.
But with Tuesday's 4-0 victory over South Whidbey, the Tigers find themselves alone in third place -- second among Class 2A teams -- and poised to host a first-round district playoff game next week.
"We're starting to beat quality teams," Granite Falls head coach Pat Pawlak said. "We put in the effort the last two years being really young and we're still young, but now we're starting to see the benefits ... ."
The Tigers' quality wins include a 4-3 shootout victory over third-place and 2007 2A state tournament quarterfinalist Cedarcrest on Oct. 16, and a 2-1 victory over 2007 1A state semifinalist King's on Sept. 30.
"It's a good way to end the season, especially with the struggles we had in the middle," Pawlak said. "It's a good building point for the playoffs, and more importantly for next year, too."
On Tuesday, Granite Falls built a 2-0 lead early and cruised to the Cascade Conference win, avenging a 4-2 loss at South Whidbey on Sept. 27.
Sophomore Cacia Stevens opened the scoring with goals in the 10th and 14th minutes.
"When (Stevens) scored those first two goals, we got all pumped up," said fellow sophomore Katie Cashman, who added two goals of her own to ice the contest. Cashman's goals came in the in the 32nd and 78th minutes.
Kaitlan Howell had two assists, Brittany McGinnis and Kassi Hoerner each added one and sophomore Kelsey Carlson recorded the shutout at goalkeeper.
"We came in focused," junior co-captain KatyAnn Powers said. "We said, 'This is the game we need to win.' We worked so hard at Cedarcrest. We worked so hard at King's. Why not just solidify it after all that hard work?"
The hard work isn't over. Granite Falls travels to King's on Thursday and wraps up the regular season with last-place Sultan at home on Saturday. A win against either opponent would clinch at least a tie with Cedarcrest for second place among 2A teams and Granite Falls holds the tiebreaker.
"That's good. That (would be) the highest we've ever finished," said Pawlak, who is in his fifth season. "That's a good place to be because we're pretty good at home and that means we get to host the first-round game. That will be important -- playing at home."
The Tigers would love to see their labors in the past two seasons come to fruition.
"We came out this year as the underdogs," Powers said. "We were so close last year, but we weren't quite there yet. ... This year we came through and we worked so hard at every practice and we worked so hard last summer and we just put in our time to be as good as we are now. This was so big for us."
With the victory, Granite Falls improved to 8-4 in Cascade Conference play and 9-4 overall.
"Our goal was to play on the last day of districts and this is a good step in that direction," Pawlak said. "It puts us in a better position than if we have to travel."
South Whidbey dropped to 6-6 in league and overall. Should the Falcons remain in fourth place, they would have to defeat the fifth-place team from the Northwest Conference in a play-in game to reach the District 1 Tournament.
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