Saturday’s state qualifiers: Murphy girls soccer state-bound

Published 1:30 am Saturday, November 3, 2018

The Archbishop Murphy girls soccer team ended a one-year hiatus from Class 2A state tournament with a 3-1 win over Bellingham in a winner-to-state, loser-out District 1/2 matchup on Saturday at Sedro-Woolley High School.

Alexa Chiangpradit scored twice and the Wildcats’ defense held the Red Raiders scoreless for the first 79 minutes.

“It starts with keeper Allie Williams,” Wildcats coach Michael Bartley said of his defense’s performance. “They got one at the very end, but she was strong all day long.”

Bartley also praised the defensive efforts of Tia Asher, Kaitlyn McCurdy and Emily Schwartz.

“Our defense is really good and kind of the backbone of the team,” Bartley added.

Archbishop Murphy (13-4-2) starts seven freshman that Bartley said have helped save a program had only made one state tournament appearance since its streak of 14 straight state berths was snapped in 2014.

“They just come out and they play,” Bartley said. “They play really hard and they’re really solid.”

Bartley credited his senior captains for helping the youth-laden squad be prepared for what to expect in the program’s first year of playing in Wesco 3A.

“What they do is a really good job of is explaining everything to them that’s expected so they aren’t surprised,” Bartley said. “They do a really good job of team building and bonding, which has really helped a lot.”

Archbishop Murphy earned the District 1/2 No. 3 seed with the win, and will play a first-round game at a time that has yet to be determined. First-round matchups are scheduled to take place Monday through Wednesday at Shoreline Stadium.

Bartley believes the facing a mostly 3A schedule in conference play will be a huge benefit for the Wildcats as they make a run at the program’s first state title since 2009.

“The biggest thing is we’ve seen everything,” Bartley said. “Wesco is such a really good league. We’ve learende a lot about our team, because every game is very tough. There’s teams that play very physical and teams that play very fast. There’s a lot of good coaches, too.”

District swimming

Five local swimmers won multiple individual events at their respective classification’s district championship meets on Saturday: Jackson sophomore Mia Chang (100-yard backstroke and 100 breaststroke); Kamiak junior Elli Straume (200 freestyle and 500 freestyle) and sophomore Ava Collinge (200 individual medley and 100 butterfly); Snohomish junior Audrey Marrs (50 freestyle and 100 freestyle); and Stanwood junior Jetlynn Hau (100 breaststroke and 200 individual medley).

Abby Crum, Jiahui Zeng, Paige Moss and Aiko Beauchamp led Shorecrest’s 200 medley relay team to a 3A District 1 meet-record time of 1:52.48, and Anna Kowalchyk, Rylee Johnston, Mieko Schwartzmiller and Marrs led Snohomish’s 400 freestyle relay team to meet-record time of 3:41.55 .