Turnaround complete
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, November 2, 2006
SHORELINE – Lauren Hansen clearly remembers how it felt to suffer through a four-win season as a freshman.
That’s why Hansen, now a senior, and her teammates on the Stanwood High School girls soccer team are so elated: They’ve come an awful long way.
Hansen, a star forward, scored two goals, including the eventual game-winner in the 68th minute, to boost Stanwood to a 2-1 victory over the Jackson Timberwolves Thursday night in the Class 4A District 1 championship game at Shoreline Stadium.
“We’ve wanted this so bad, ever since the beginning of the year. We just wanted to give it everything we had,” said Hansen, one of three Stanwood seniors who started for the Spartans’ 2003 team that went 4-9-2.
Oh, how things have changed. Hansen’s 21st and 22nd goals of the season highlighted a solid team effort by Stanwood (13-1-4 overall), which will play host to the District 3 No. 4 seed at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mount Vernon High.
Stanwood coach Lori Stunz said her team, which made its only previous state tourney trip in 1996, set out to create some winning history for a program that was seen as a pushover not so long ago. Stunz, in her fourth season at Stanwood, beamed with pride when asked about her squad.
“They’ve worked so hard. This is four years in the making,” she said.
Both teams had already qualified for the state tourney but they battled for the top seed and the chance to play a first-round game at home.
Sara O’Neal scored a goal for Jackson (13-3-1), which will travel to play the District 3 No. 3 seed early next week. The game time and location is undetermined, but it will most likely be played on Tuesday or Wednesday.
After O’Neal tied it at 1-1 with approximately 20 minutes to go in the second half, Hansen took a lead pass from senior teammate Michelle Aikens and scored inside the left post to give Stanwood a 2-1 lead. It was Hansen’s 22nd goal of the season, increasing her single-season school-record total (the old record was 20).
“Basically, she’s one of the best strikers I’ve seen in a long time,” Jackson coach Mike Bartley said of Hansen. “We were overly aggressive with her instead of being patient, and she used that to her advantage.”
“She’s fantastic. … She has that turn (move) and a lot of kids can’t (stop it),” Stanwood’s Stunz said.
Hansen – a Utah State University recruit – played on the Stanwood varsity team as a freshman, along with Aikens, Kene Vanderpool and Kelsey Cline. The group has steadily improved together and continues to produce exciting results. The entire team, not just the seniors, has developed tight relationships, Hansen said.
“We’re all best friends,” said Hansen, whose 52 career goals are also a school record. “There’s no outcasts. … We’re all real close. I think that carries over on the field, for sure.”
Both teams generated six shots in the first half, but only Stanwood found the back of the net. After misfiring on a spin-and-shoot move from 15 yards out earlier in the game, Hansen scored in the 14th minute to make it 1-0 when she converted from in close on an assist by Kline following a corner kick by Vanderpool. Hansen wasted no time shooting the ball into the right half of the goal mouth.
Jackson eventually tied the score at 1, but couldn’t hold off Hansen and the Spartans.
“They really played well and they stayed composed,” said Jackson’s Bartley.
Jackson was also the district runner-up last year and it placed third at state. The Timberwolves hope to make another strong postseason run.
Said Bartley, “We’re happy that we have another day, another game (to play).”
At Shoreline Stadium
Goals-Stanwood: Hansen 2. Jackson: O’Neal. Assists-Stanwood: Cline, Aikens. Jackson: Kingma. Goalkeepers-Stanwood: Jackson. Jackson: Wood. Records- Stanwood 13-1-4 overall. Jackson 13-3-1.
