Prep soccer: Archbishop Murphy 1, Lynden 0

Published 5:45 pm Saturday, May 14, 2011

SULTAN — The third time was indeed the charm for the Archbishop Murphy (17-2 overall) soccer squad as it reached the 2A District 1 final for the third consecutive year and finally took home the trophy with a 1-0 win over Lynden, Saturday at Sultan H.S.

Defenseman Alex Kramer capped a defensive stalemate in the 80th minute when he received a long throw-in deep in Lynden’s half from teammate Sean Ryan and headed it in at the far post. A few moments later the referee blew his whistle three times to signal the end of the contest and the Wildcats celebrated their first 2A district title.

“It’s exciting,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Eddie Fernandez said of the district championship. “We had been on the losing end of it the last couple of years so it’s nice to be on the winning side this time around.”

According to Fernandez, the match was a defensive struggle all game and the victory for Murphy could be most attributed to the performance of the backline. Jake Flanagan, Aidan Huggins, Cobi Weyers, Nick Ulowetz and Kramer did a great job of preventing the Lynden offense from getting any good looks against keeper Jordan Trinka.

“It was a good battle,” added Fernandez. “Much credit to Lynden. They came out and were working hard. Our guys defended really well, it wasn’t our best game (offensively) and Lynden had a high work rate until the very end when we were able to break through.

With the win, Archbishop Murphy will host its first-round state playoff game. Pairings will be announced Monday.