EVERETT — Archbishop Murphy wanted to erase the bad taste left over from a 4-0 loss to Sehome in the 2A District 1 boys soccer championship game last week.
The Wildcats returned to their winning ways Tuesday night with a 3-0 win over Tumwater in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament at Everett Memorial Stadium.
Riley Rayner and Aidan Huggins headed in nearly identical goals in the first half as Archbishop Murphy controlled the run of play to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against Bellingham.
“As soon as that (district championship) game was over we wanted to jump back onto the field,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Eddie Fernandez said. “At the time it didn’t feel so good, but we tried to use it this week as motivation. That kick in the butt pushed us forward and it pushed us forward in this game against a hardworking Tumwater team.”
Rayner came free at the back post and headed in a long throw-in from junior midfielder Sean Ryan in the seventh minute. Huggins’ goal came in the 30th minute on another long throw from Ryan in almost the same spot deep in the Tumwater zone near the corner flag.
“Sean’s a skinny little kid so he doesn’t look like he can throw the ball long, but he can huck it pretty good so we always want to be aware of that,” Fernandez said. “We were able to get some people free on the back post and I think he threw it a little farther than they thought.”
The Wildcats (14-5 overall) nearly conceded an early goal when Tumwater senior Geoff Gilbert broke free in the box in the third minute, but goalkeeper Doug Ehlebracht came up with a finger-tip save to parry the ball out for a corner kick.
“Each team had the run for a little bit, Archbishop Murphy just had more of it,” Tumwater head coach Bryan Winkler said. “Those throw-ins were solid, Archbishop just won more balls in the air in front of the goal today and it turned out to be the main difference.”
Tumwater, making its first state tournament appearance in 17 years, had a few late attempts on goal, but nothing as troublesome as Gilbert’s early effort.
The Thunderbirds (12-6) have been battling injuries to several key players and struggled to string together many clear cut possessions while Archbishop Murphy pressured goalkeeper Devon Diekman into making several diving saves.
“It’s all about energy,” Fernandez said. “We felt if we came out and worked as hard as they did then hopefully our skill would take over.”
Alexis Magana put in Archbishop Murphy’s final goal in the 80th minute after taking a long pass from Huggins. Magana calmly put the ball past Diekman after using his speed to separate from the last defender.
The Wildcats, who finished in fourth place in last year’s state tournament, got a scare near halftime when Ehlebracht collided with Tumwater’s Christian Bush while trying to clear a ball out of the zone near the 18-yard box. Ehlebracht, who banged up his knee in the collision, left the game a few minutes before halftime and was replaced by backup keeper Jordan Trinka. Trinka manned the net until the 53rd minute when Ehlebracht came back on.
Ryan finished the game with two assists and Huggins added a goal and an assist.
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