Glacier Peak gets reality check from Shorecrest in 3-0 loss

Published 11:57 pm Friday, March 26, 2010

SNOHOMISH — After winning just three games last year, Glacier Peak’s boys soccer team looked like it had a long way to go before being competitive in Wesco play.

Three straight wins to start this season may have lifted expectations for the Grizzlies but Shorecrest handed the second-year program a bit of a reality check Friday night. The defending 3A state champs took it to the Grizzlies in a 3-0 nonleague victory at Glacier Peak.

The Grizzlies’ improvement was evident from the outset as they ran with the Scots, who have been to the state tournament every year since 2003. But Shorecrest’s (4-0 overall) ability to finish was the clear difference against Glacier Peak (3-1), especially in set pieces.

“I think it was a good soccer game from start to finish but they showed in critical areas why they are state champs,” Glacier Peak coach Shannon Murray said.

Shorecrest’s biggest threat, Michael Harris (a University of Washington signee), was kept off the score sheet but his presence was felt on the Scots’ set pieces. Especially throw-ins, where he employs the handspring flip technique to catapult the ball as far as thirty yards, often right into the goalie box.

In the 46th minute the threat of his handspring caught the Glacier Peak defense out of position when he opted for a traditional throw. Harris threw to fellow captain Glenn Padden, who flipped a quick header behind him. The ball never touched the ground and Hiei Rose was there to finish the job with a header in the back of the net, making it 3-0.

Shorecrest’s first goal came in the 13th minute when Joe Schober got two straight tries at a corner kick. After the first got knocked out of bounds, the junior defender made his second try count when he bent his kick from the right corner to the back post where Asa Redfield was waiting. Redfield elevated and snapped a header into the back of the net past Glacier Peak goalie Andrew Weakly.

“Other than that it was a 1-0 game,” Shorecrest coach Drew Thompson said. “It just goes to show you that it makes it easy when you score off your set pieces.”

Six minutes after Shorecrest took the 1-0 lead, the Grizzlies threatened after a Scot foul just outside of the box. The ensuing GP direct kick sailed over the Scots’ wall of defenders and looked like it was headed for the crossbar before Eric Baker extended both hands and punched it over. Baker recorded the clean sheet for the fourth shutout of the season for Shorecrest.

Glacier Peak clearly missed forward Jackson Miller on offense, where they just couldn’t get off quality shots. Miller did not play in Friday’s game and will be out for the next two games because he is travelling in Costa Rica with his family and completing a school project.

“That didn’t help,” Murray said of the absence of one of his seven seniors.

Shorecrest got its second goal on a counter attack in the 26th minute. It was a 3-on-3 breakaway and Ian Adams threaded the needle to find Paden streaking in the box. The junior forward gathered it and poked it past Weakly, who could only watch the ball sneak into the right corner, giving Shorecrest the 2-0 edge.

“It’s always a good game when I get a goal, especially when we win 3-0,” Paden said. “The shutout was really important.”

After this early litmus test, the Grizzlies have plenty of time to regroup before Wesco league play begins.

“For us it was a matter of seeing what they had and now we’ll be able to take that into the next game (with Shorecrest),” Murray said.

Despite the somewhat lopsided score Thompson was impressed with the strides that GP has made in the past year and expects them to make some noise in 2010.

“They are a different team than they were last year,” Thompson said. “I look for them to be in the hunt for one of those two state berths out of the (3A) district tournament.”