EVERETT -You can’t hold what you can’t catch.
The fleet-footed Archbishop Murphy Wildcats advanced to the Class A state soccer semifinals with a 3-0 victory over Northwest School at Everett Memorial Stadium Friday night.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Archbishop Murphy coach Jon Echols said. “They just worked and worked and gutted it out.”
Northwest School, champion of the tough Emerald City League, saw its season end with a record of 12-6 and clearly came away impressed.
“We’ve got a defense that gave up 12 goals in 17 (previous) games,” Northwest School coach Jeff Blair said. “We’re used to being able to contain people.”
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead just past the midway point of the first half when midfielder Luke Hagel broke free behind the Northwest School defenders and beat the goalkeeper in isolation with a shot from 12 yards out.
“It was guts, pure guts,” Echols said of Hagel’s effort.
Early in the second half, Andy Hewitt took the ball from the far corner and made a spin move around a defender before firing in his 34th goal of the season from point-blank range.
“Andy Hewitt’s been doing it all season,” Echols said.
Alex Ferris capped the AM scoring midway through the second half with a nice assist from Chris Danford.
“I just dropped it right on the ‘PK’ and Alex was right there,” Danford said. “That’s how we get a lot of our goals.”
“Chris is just a great athlete, very fast and very strong,” Echols said of the junior forward who seemed to be first to every ball that was up for grabs. “He’s a houndog going after the goal.”
Archbishop Murphy outshot Northwest School 16-13. Wildcats’ goalkeeper Alex Ungs anchored the defense with five saves, but credited the defenders.
“The back line put a lot of pressure on them like they have all season,” Ungs said.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Echols said. “Speed kills, it’s been that way all season.”
Goals-Archbishop Murphy: Hagel, Hewitt, Ferris. Goalkeepers-Northwest School: Stevenson. Archbishop Murphy: Ungs. Records-Northwest School 12-6 overall. Archbishop Murphy 16-1-1. |
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