Glacier Peak’s reign ends

Published 4:01 pm Friday, May 27, 2011

LAKEWOOD — There was disappointment on the Glacier Peak sideline following the loss that shattered the Grizzlies’ dreams of a repeat state championship, but there was no shame.

A year ago, the second-year program shocked the state by winning the title, and in 2011 Glacier Peak wasn’t sn

eaking up on anyone as it rolled through the season with only one loss. But two wins short of their goal of a second straight Class 3A soccer championship, the Grizzlies fell 2-1 in a shootout to Bainbridge in Friday’s semifinals at Harry Lang Stadium.

“I was really proud of what we did,” senior defender Jordan Steranka said. “We were hoping to pull off another championship, and we had a good game, we just had trouble finishing. But I’m really proud of our team and everything we’ve done. There’s nothing to be mad about.”

After Bainbridge and Glacier Peak traded goals early, it appeared a high-scoring game was in order, but both defenses settled down — and both offenses had some near misses — and the game ended in a 1-1 tie after 80 minutes of regulation and two five-minute overtimes.

The shootout seemingly favored Glacier Park and its Villanova-bound goalkeeper Andrew Weakley, but the Spartans calmly buried all of their penalty kicks to win the shootout 5-3. Bainbridge keeper Nic Miller made one save in the shootout, and moments later Connor Winship clinched the win with the Spartans’ final kick.

“Once you get to this part (of the tournament), a bounce here and a bounce there, and we’re playing again tomorrow, but it didn’t happen for us,” Grizzlies coach Shannon Murray said. “It’s tough, but at the same time, these guys should be proud of what they’ve accomplished over the past two seasons.”

Bainbridge coach George Vukic certainly wasn’t expecting his team to win by going five-for-five in a shootout against Weakley.

“In penalties, against that goalie?” Vukic said. “Wouldn’t have dreamt it. … I was just impressed how cool my guys were in that situation, because I would not have been.”

Bainbridge jumped on top just 40 seconds into the game when Alex Raquer headed in a Michael Crowley corner kick for his 16th goal of the season. The Grizzlies didn’t take long to answer, however, thanks to a David Linney goal in the 12th minute. After Bainbridge failed to get a good clearance on Michael Windrim’s throw into the box, Linney collected the loose ball near the top of the box and fired a rocket past Miller.

And even though the lead didn’t last long for Bainbridge (17-3-1), scoring early against the defending champs helped settle the Spartans’ nerves.

“Playing the No. 1 team in state, you’re always thinking, ‘Are we going to be able to hang with these guys?’” said Raquer, who also scored in the shootout. “As soon as we got that first goal, it was like, ‘We’re in this game.’”

Glacier Peak (20-2) had plenty of chances throughout the game to go ahead, including a shot off the crossbar in the second half and several others that were just wide of the target, but were ultimately unable to score the go-ahead goal.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to bury our chances when we get them,” Murray said. “We hit a crossbar and a post, and it wasn’t our day for some reason. And you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Bainbridge, they did exactly what they wanted to do and came in and did well.”

The Spartans, who before this year had never advanced past the quarterfinals, have won 11 straight games and feel like a team of destiny after surviving the defending champs.

“We are very fortunate to have won,” Vukic said. “… Look how it finished — one missed penalty and that’s all the difference between the teams.

“(Glacier Peak) was fantastic. They were fantastic, so we consider ourselves very fortunate to be in this situation. It’s almost like destiny at this point.”

Destiny for Bainbridge, but disappointment for the Grizzlies.

“I think we handled it really well,” Murray said of the pressure that comes with being the defending champs. “Last year nobody really knew who we were outside of the north end. This year, everybody was ready for us and gave us their best shot. Twenty out of 22 times, we came out on top, but unfortunately the second one was today.”