EVERETT — Anyone at Frank Goddard Stadium on Tuesday night whitnessed domination. But it was just business as usual for perennial power Archbishop Murphy, which defeated W.F. West 5-0 in the opening round of the 2A state tournament.
It took the Wildcats 24 minutes to get on the scoreboard, but once they did, it didn’t take Murphy long to build a big lead. That was a relief for Archbishop Murphy coach Dick Henderson, who was concerned his team was getting scoring chances and not converting. Many of the Wildcats first shots were blocked or went off the goalpost.
“The longer you go without scoring, the other team starts to get a little confident,” Henderson said.
But it was hard for W.F. West (13-4) to get confident when it seemed the Bearcats never had the ball.
“It seemed like we had a lot of possession right from the start,” Henderson said.
Those possessions finally paid off in the 24th minute when Alli Beard scored on a penalty kick. In the 39th minute Maddy Huggins scored off an Erin Ryan corner kick to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead at halftime.
The two first-half goals were just the beginning. In the second half, Archbishop Murphy poured it on.
Caroline Brawner scored the first of her two goals on a breakaway in the 45th minute, taking a Sam Pettinger pass and finding the back of the net from 5 yards out.
In the 48th minute, Brawner struck again, this time from 30 yards out. Brawner booted a Pettinger pass that looked as though it was stopped by W.F. West goalkeeper Rachel Hunt. Hunt jumped and hit the ball with both hands, but the ball had just enough momentum to get behind her and into the goal.
“It was a team effort, whoever was in the right place at the right time got them (goals),” Brawner said.
Brawner just missed a hat trick in the 53rd minute, when her shot deflected off the right goalpost.
The Wildcats (20-0) added a fifth goal in the 57th minute when Kortney Yant scored off a Ryan corner kick.
“I thought we were kind of relentless, we just kept coming at them,” Henderson said.
W.F. West qualified for state on the final day of its district tournament, so Henderson expected the Bearcats to be ready for their state opportunity.
“They were really up for this and excited for it. They were going to be really emotionally up,” Henderson said. “I think at the start they didn’t have much as far as an organized attack against us.”
What the Bearcats lacked in organization, the Wildcats possessed, consistently moving the ball toward the Bearcats’ goal.
“We have been working hard about going forward,” Henderson said, saying his team has had a tendency to drop the ball back or move the ball across the field instead of attacking the goal.
Henderson said the Wildcats also worked on getting shots off quicker and not overpassing.
Murphy subbed out the majority of its starters after the fifth goal and Julie Connelly relieved starting goalkeeper Alexa Hughes in the 63rd minute.
Hunt and Chelsie Fechtner split time at goalkeeper for W.F. West.
Overall, Henderson was happy with his teams effort.
“It’s like we are in a four game tournament and we just won the first game,” Henderson said. “It’s single elimination, you can’t afford to be off in a game, you need to stay healthy, and you need a little luck.”
Archbishop Murphy plays Cedarcrest for the fourth time this season in the quarterfinals.
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