Panthers don’t miss a beat
Published 11:21 pm Tuesday, March 11, 2008
SNOHOMISH — It is one of the biggest questions for the spring sports season: How will the traditionally dominant Snohomish High School boys soccer team do after unexpectedly losing three of its most talented players?
Based on Snohomish’s debut, the Panthers still have plenty of firepower.
Snohomish built a 2-0 lead, withstood Marysville-Pilchuck’s second-half surge and defeated the Tomahawks 4-2 Tuesday in a season-opening Western Conference North Division game at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Snohomish won without a trio of players once expected to be a vital part of the 2008 squad: Seniors Matt Berry and Josh Petosa and junior Zach Johnson all decided to play exclusively for their select club, Crossfire Premier Academy.
Berry is a University of Washington recruit and Petosa signed with Gonzaga University. They were elected Snohomish’s 2008 team captains after last season but were required by Crossfire to pick between their select team and their high school program. They chose Crossfire.
“I’d love to have those guys here and I know they’d like to be here,” Snohomish coach Dan Pingrey said.
But, said Pingrey, their absence created opportunities for less heralded players, like sophomore Brendan Gundry. After playing for the Snohomish C-team last spring, Gundry shined Tuesday in his varsity debut, scoring two goals.
“Everyone thought since we lost some seniors we were not going to play very well but we dominated this game,” said Gundry, a forward.
Senior midfielder Diego Robayo scored two goals for Snohomish and teammate Connor Moe, a junior midfielder, tallied two assists.
Pingrey made substitutions early and often. He got all 20 healthy Snohomish players into the game. It’s the most players he’s ever used in a season opener.
Based on their performance and what he thinks they’re capable of, Pingrey doesn’t plan to lower the squad’s lofty expectations.
“Our goal still is to win a state championship and get national rankings. There’s no reason we can’t,” said Pingrey.
With few exceptions, Snohomish controlled the flow of play in the first half. The Panthers led 2-0 by the intermission thanks to goals by Gundry and Robayo.
Fans of the home team didn’t have to wait long to celebrate. Less than a minute into the game, Gundry took the ball up the left side and kicked a low shot into the right corner of the goal mouth.
“It was big,” Gundry said of his first varsity goal, “because it’s good to get off to a good start. It really set the tone of the game.”
“I kind of wish the guys would have come out less intimidated,” first-year Marysville-Pilchuck coach Geoff Kittle said. “They were fighting a little bit of the tradition of losing (against Snohomish) so they let that first goal in, which was really difficult on our guys mentally.”
Snohomish’s persistent attacks generated another goal about 24 minutes later. Surrounded by a cluster of players, Robayo scored from close range, making it 2-0.
After his team failed to score for 51 minutes, midfielder Nick Burdett knocked in M-P’s first goal of the season. He smashed a 30-yard free kick inside the left post.
M-P pounced again just 4 minutes later. Ryan Wilson, set up by teammate Jordan Salcedo’s throw-in, cut the deficit to 3-2.
“Once they calmed down in the second half I think we did a lot better. We were able to move the ball,” Kittle said.
Robayo answered for Snohomish less than 4 minutes later, scoring his second goal and giving the Panthers a 4-2 lead.
At Snohomish H.S.
Goals-Marysville-Pilchuck: Burdett, Wilson. Snohomish: Gundry 2, Robayo 2. Assists-Marysville-Pilchuck: Salcedo. Snohomish: Helfrich, Moe 2. Goalkeepers-Marysville-Pilchuck: Cruz. Snohomish: MacArthur, Lane. Records-Marysville-Pilchuck 0-1 in division and overall. Snohomish 1-0, 1-0.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
