By Aaron Lommers Herald Writer
SHORELINE — Marysville Pilchuck boys soccer coach Paul Bartley said Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Shorecrest in the 3A district 1 tournament semifinals was one of worst shooting performances his team has had all season.
The Tomahawks had two days off to practice capitalizing on their opportunities and it paid off with a 3-1 victory over Meadowdale in the tournament’s third-place game on Saturday.
“We went out and practiced (shooting) and they came out today and did what we told them to,” Bartley said. “We worked a lot on finishing and we took advantage of it.”
Meadowdale’s season is over after the loss, while Marysville Pilchuck takes the No. 3 seed from the district to the state tournament — a place Bartley thought his team would be since the season began.
“I thought we would go to state,” Bartley said. “I was hoping it would be first (place in districts), but this is what we expected to do and I think we’re where we should be.”
Marysville Pilchuck senior Fabian Panduro-Galvan scored the game’s first goal in the 28th minute with a right-to-left shot that slid past Meadowdale goalkeeper Mark Steinke into the lower right corner of the goal.
The goal seemed to inspire the Marysville Pilchuck offense, but Panduro-Galvan said that started after Wednesday’s loss to the Scots.
“Everyone just had a reality check and we all picked it up,” Panduro-Galvan said. “We all wanted to go to state.”
The Tomahawks took a one goal lead into halftime and increased it to two in the 61st minute when junior Sebastian Navarro controlled a deflection and scored from nearly 30 yards out.
Panduro-Galvan and Navarro provide the Tomahawks with not only a constant scoring threat, but each also has the ability to get their teammates involved.
“(Panduro-Galvan and Navarro) are the people that other teams will focus on the most, but we’ve been trying to get distribution to other players,” Bartley said. “Those guys have been coming through big for us and it just kind of keeps rolling.”
Senior Caleb Galvan added a third goal for the Tomahawks in the 74th minute on a rather odd play. A pass seemingly was directed to an obviously offside Panduro-Galvan and the referees flag when up. Panduro-Galvan gave up on the play as did most of the Meadowdale defense, which seemed to assume an offside call was coming — but it never did.
After Panduro-Galvan disengaged, Galvan attacked the ball and beat the goalkeeper Steinke on a breakaway to give the Tomahawks a 3-0 lead.
Meadowdale senior Thomas Redd got his team on the scoreboard in the 76th minute, but the game was already out of reach.
It was another great performance by the Tomahawks’ defense and their goalkeeping tandem of senior Ryan Spiva, who played in the first half, and sophomore Kole Bradley-Kuk, who played the second half.
“I have faith in either one,” Bartley said. “Kole was in the goal at the end. We knew it would be more intense in the second half and so we kind of bunkered in. We were looking for target long balls and it worked out.”
The Wesco North regular-season champion Tomahawks have just two more wins than they have losses this season, but have battled back from a slew of injuries to advance to state.
“It means a lot to us (to make it to state) because throughout the season we dealt with a lot of injuries and stuff,” Panduro-Galvan said. “To make it to state with the injuries that we dealt with is a big thing for us because everyone is back, so we’re getting into our rhythm.”
It was a disappointing end for the Mavericks, who rebounded from a loss to the Tomahawks in the first round of the tournament by winning two consecutive games for an opportunity to advance to state.
“They’ve got a lot of heart and a lot of character,” Meadowdale head coach Wade Foley said of his team. “They have so much passion for this game and they came out day in and day out, good weather and bad weather, wanting to learn and wanting to fight and be successful this season. I think they accomplished that.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Shoreline Stadium
Goals—Fabian Panduro-Galvan (MP), Sebastian Navarro (MP), Caleb Galvan (MP), Thomas Redd (M). Assists—Gavin McDougall (MP), Tristan Springer (M). Goalkeepers—Meadowdale: Matt Steinke. Marysville Pilchuck: Ryan Spiva, Kole Bradley-Kuk. Records—Meadowdale 11-7-2 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 11-9-0.
