Better late than never for Lake Stevens

Published 10:33 pm Saturday, May 22, 2010

SNOHOMISH — The Lake Stevens boys soccer team is starting to specialize in late-game heroics, pulling out yet another close win Saturday at Snohomish Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Senior Nick Bylin scored the equalizer in the 64th minute and Vasily Bogdanoff converted a 70th minute penalty kick as the Vikings eked by Skyline 2-1 in the class 4A state soccer tournament’s quarterfinal round.

Playing without leading goal scorer Nic Rowe, who broke a bone in his foot late in Lake Stevens’ first-round win over Bellarmine Prep, the Vikings sorely lacked a finishing touch before a clever combination netted the game-tying goal midway through the second half.

Senior midfielder Jake Orwiler crossed deep into the box from the right side to Tanner Sellars. Sellars had the presence of mind to touch the ball off to an unmarked Bylin for the goal.

“I’m not sure many teams in the state could turn around and play a quarterfinal game without their leading goal scorer and still come out on top,” Lake Stevens head coach Scott Flanders said. “It shows you the character of these guys, it has never been about one guy all season and everybody responded.”

Bylin moved up in the attack during the second half and the shift paid off for the Vikings, who face Federal Way in the semifinals. Federal Way beat Todd Beamer 5-1 on Saturday.

“We made a tactical change and moved Nick Bylin up to forward and he just brought us a little better presence up there,” Flanders said. “He filled in Nic Rowe’s shoes.”

Lake Stevens (17-2-1 overall) was also without junior Michael Berg, whom Flanders called an “inspirational midfielder.” Berg was blindsided in the Vikings’ first-round win and suffered a fractured cheekbone. The junior undergoes surgery on Monday, Flanders said.

“(Playing without Rowe) took some getting used to and we just kept mixing guys up and throwing guys up front to see what worked and eventually we found it,” Bylin said.

With injuries to key players, Flanders brought in former Vikings star Wesley VanHooser to speak to his squad during Friday’s practice.

VanHooser, a Seattle University midfielder, holds Lake Stevens’ career scoring record with 59 goals, but was injured on the eve of the 2006 state tournament. Flanders said VanHooser brought a motivational message and shared his insight about the ’06 team banding together without its leading scorer. That team also reached the state semifinals without VanHooser, an ’06 grad, in the attack.

“He got out there and showed us that we can do this even though your guy who’s in form is out,” Bylin said. “Everyone’s got to step up just like four years ago.”

Bylin drew a penalty kick 10 minutes before the final whistle and senior Vasily Bogdanoff slotted the spot kick low past Skyline goalkeeper Steven Pankiewicz for the game-winning goal.

“I got the ball on the top of the arc and I played the ball to Josh Lund and he played it back,” Bylin said of the penalty. “I got a foot on (the ball) to run through and a guy had his leg out and clipped me.”

The Vikings, who have had difficulty putting together strong performances for the full 80 minutes this season, appeared in trouble again as Skyline took an early 1-0 lead when James Molyneux Elliot received a deep cross and headed a shot past goalkeeper Tanner Eney.

Skyline (12-6-2) held Lake Stevens without a shot on goal in the first half and nearly equalized late when Pedro Miola’s shot struck the crossbar in the 78th minute. The ball came down in the hands of Lake Stevens goalkeeper Michael Pierce, a halftime substitute for Eney.

“We hit the post, we hit the crossbar, we were creating opportunities and it just didn’t fall the right way for us,” Skyline head coach Don Braman said.

Lake Stevens finished with just five shots on goal compared to Skyline’s nine, but as the season wears on, the Vikings penchant for exciting finishes seems to be growing.

“I’m not sure we were the better team today,” Flanders said. “We didn’t get outworked in the second half, we had a few breaks go our way, but that’s how these guys have been going all year.”