EVERETT — It was a showdown of two top teams, so there was every reason to think the game might go down to the wire. And indeed it did, but without a winner as the Granite Falls and Archbishop Murphy girls soccer teams battled to a scoreless tie on Thursday night.
The outcome, which left the two teams with identical 3-0-1 Cascade Conference records, was generally pleasing to both head coaches.
“I’m very proud and very impressed (with) the effort,” said Granite Falls coach Lowell Zenk. “(The Tigers) didn’t give up the whole time and it was awesome to see.”
“Overall, I love the way we’re playing,” said Archbishop Murphy’s Mike Bartley. “We’re moving the ball (well) … and now we’ve just got to finish. But I’m really happy with the group. We’ve come a long way from the preseason.”
The host Wildcats had the edge in shots, but with none that found the net. That was due in large part to Tigers senior goalkeeper Kelsey Bechtholdt, who had a couple brilliant saves to preserve the shutout.
Bechtholdt is “a great goalie,” Bartley acknowledged.
The teams battled through an evenly played first half with a minimum of quality scoring chances for either team. Archbishop Murphy had the best opportunity about 15 minutes in when senior midfielder Maddy Lowdon tracked down a long pass in the left corner. Bowdon eluded a defender as she moved toward the middle and then delivered a high shot that Bechtholdt had to leap and deflect over the crossbar.
In the second half Archbishop Murphy began increasing the pressure. Another excellent chance came from the foot of Wildcats forward Megan Wall, who whirled and sent a shot from in front that Bechtholdt again had to jump to deflect over the crossbar.
Ten minutes of overtime followed regulation, and neither team had a great scoring opportunity.
Zenk tinkered with his lineup for the game, moving two of his top forwards to the back line in an attempt to hamper Archbishop Murphy in the offensive end. The strategy seemed to work as the Wildcats came up empty despite managing 19 shots.
Finishing with a tie against Archbishop Murphy, a perennial league power, was a good result for the Tigers, who graduated seven seniors from a year ago. With a 4-0-1 overall record, the players “should be very proud of what they’re doing and the direction they’re going,” Zenk said.
As for the Wildcats, “this was just one of those games where I needed someone to jump on (a shot) and put it in a corner instead of hitting it at (the goalie),” Bartley said. “We’ve kind of been working on that and I thought we kind of resolved it, but we just have to keep it going.”
Moving forward, he added, “I’m excited about us. We just need to get our act together a little bit on the offensive end. We still need to finish. That’s going to be our key, to finish. We’re just not doing that right now.”
At Archbishop Murphy H.S.
Goalkeepers—Granite Falls: Kelsey Bechtholdt. Archbishop Murphy: Crissy Talley. Records—Granite Falls 3-0-1 league, 4-0-1 overall. Archbishop Murphy 3-0-1, 4-1-1.
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