EVERETT -- On a cold night at Goddard Stadium on Wednesday, the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats girls soccer team heated things up with a 3-0 victory over the Steilacoom Sentinels in a Class 2A state playoff game.
The Wildcats (16-2-1 overall) advanced to the top eight in the state playoffs with the victory, and are just one win away from their fourth consecutive final four. Archbishop Murphy won the state title in 2006, and placed third last season.
Murphy plays the winner of the Sehome-Tumwater match on Saturday at Goddard Stadium. The time is yet to be determined.
Murphy scored in the sixth minute when Brittany Allen's shot was caught by Steilacoom goalkeeper Olivia Larson. But Larson lost the handle on the ball and it fell across the line, giving Allen the goal. Lindsey Bos assisted on Allen's goal.
"Sometimes they go in," Allen said after the game.
Maddy Huggins added a goal in the 27th minute that was assisted by Melissa von der Hofen to give Murphy a 2-0 lead at the half.
Allen added an unassisted second goal in the 20th minute of the second half.
Murphy stuck with pretty much the same strategy in the second half that it had in the first half -- the Wildcats just focused on trying to get a few other players in the game as well.
"Hopefully this sets a good foundation for the rest of our state run," Allen said.
Murphy also had several other opportunities to score throughout the game -- The Wildcats had two goals taken away for off-sides penalties. Murphy controlled possession of the ball for most of the game. Steilacoom (11-4-2 overall) never provided Murphy goalkeeper Alexa Hughes any legitimate scoring threat.
Murphy's ball movement and passes are key to its control of the time of possession.
"It seems to the other team like there are 14 players on the field," Murphy coach Dick Henderson said.
Henderson feels good about his team's chances the rest of the way.
"I think we have good players and good chemistry and were playing pretty well right now," he said. "You need to be healthy and have a little luck."
Steilacoom lost three games to 2007 state champion Fife, and Wednesday's game to Archbishop Murphy.
"We had a fantastic season," Steilacoom coach Dan McLaughlin said. "You can never have any shame in losing to those kind of teams."
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