MARYSVILLE — Just 10 days ago the Shorewood boys soccer team still entertained visions of a Wesco 3A league title.
Three consecutive losses to end the regular season dashed that dream as the Thunderbirds stumbled all the way to the fifth seed entering Saturday’s Wesco 3A district tournament opener against fourth-seeded Marysville Pilchuck.
However, the Thunderbirds returned to the form that had them in the title hunt most of the season as they knocked off the Tomahawks 2-1 on a sun-drenched afternoon at Quil Ceda Stadium.
Shorewood avenged a 3-1 regular-season defeat to MP by scoring the game’s final two goals Saturday after spotting the Tomahawks the early 1-0 advantage.
“We didn’t get that third goal, but this game was almost the inverse of the last time we played them,” Shorewood head coach Bill Wilkins said. “We scored right away on them in the first game like they did against us today, and then it calmed down. They got through when we played in league. This time it was like we kind of calmed down and got some good chances.”
Shorewood (11-4-2 overall) will play top seed and league champion Glacier Peak in a winner-to-state district semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Shoreline Stadium. MP (11-4-2) faces crosstown-rival Marysville Getchell in a loser-out game at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Quil Ceda Stadium.
The Thunderbirds’ roster was bolstered by the return of star defender Ousainou Bojang. The senior was a force on the back line and scored what proved to be the game-winning goal in the 32nd minute.
“It felt really good because I wanted to come back and help my teammates,” said Bojang, who had missed several games for undisclosed reasons. “I worked the whole week just to get back and be in this game. So it was a very good feeling to score the winning goal.”
With the game knotted at 1-1 the Thunderbirds set up for a corner kick. Ilya Panek’s cross found Bojang on the far side of the net and Bojang headed it past MP goalie Kole Bradley-Kuk for the 2-1 lead.
“When we go into a corner kick situation he’s one of the guys who will step up,” Wilkins said of Bojang. “He’s got very good timing and he’s not afraid to go to the ball. In that case he got half a body’s opening, and if you don’t challenge him he’ll put his head on it.”
The second half was scoreless although the Tomahawks applied plenty of pressure in the final minutes. MP had two corner kicks in the final four minutes and also had a shot that bounced off the left post before rolling harmlessly away with less than three minutes to play.
“I thought we had a lot more of the play in the second half — we just didn’t finish,” MP coach Paul Bartley said. “I thought we had more than enough opportunities. We just didn’t put the ball away.”
The Tomahawks were the early aggressors. They fired a shot almost immediately after the opening kick that Shorewood goalie Isaac Whitaker knocked away. Then Cristian Correa-Avila gave MP a 1-0 lead from 15 yards out in the fifth minute.
“They have guys that can shoot,” Wilkins said. “They’re not afraid any time they get within 40 yards, and generally they’re putting them on frame. They’re not shanking them.”
The Thunderbirds drew even in the 14th minute when Aiden Arslanoglu tracked the ball down in the right corner found Emsud Kandzic in front of the goal with a cross. Kandzic headed it into the net to make it 1-1.
That set up Bojang’s game-winner that snapped the three-game losing skid and propelled the T-birds into the district semifinals.
“At the beginning of the season we were playing really well,” Bojang said. “We had three bad games, but that happens sometimes.”
At Quil Ceda Stadium
Goals—Cristian Correa-Avila (MP), Emsud Kandzic (S), Ousainou Bojang (S). Records—Shorewood 11-4-2 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 11-4-2.
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