PUYALLUP
A little more than two-and-a-half months ago, Archbishop Murphy’s senior girls soccer players made a promise: To erase the bitterness of consecutive third-place finishes and win the state championship that had eluded the team since the players’ freshman season in 2006.
Mission accomplished.
Senior midfielder Maddy Huggins and defender Alli Beard each scored goals as Archbishop Murphy won its second Class 2A state championship in the past four years with a 2-0 win over Cheney Nov. 21 at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
On paper, Cheney (20-2) proved a worthy adversary for Archbishop Murphy, but on the field the Wildcats (23-0) controlled the game with tremendous poise in midfield and on-the-ball control.
“It doesn’t just start in the back four (defensively) for us, it starts in the midfield,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Dick Henderson said. “We try to defend all over and cut down the opportunities.”
Cheney junior goalkeeper Nora Ifft, a starter since her freshman season, made 13 saves including a couple tremendous diving stops against Archbishop Murphy’s non-stop pressure.
“A good defense turned out to be a good offense for us,” Henderson said. “They (Cheney) couldn’t really mount much … but I thought that was one of the biggest things tonight, how much offensive effort we had.”
The Blackhawks of the Great Northern League, a team which lost in the tournament’s quarterfinal round the past two years, outscored its opponents 94-6 entering the championship game and its defense was flawless in three prior state tournament shutouts, including two 5-0 victories in the first two rounds.
But Cheney couldn’t muster many strong offensive attacks, let alone develop any sort of rhythm because of Archbishop Murphy’s quick passing and alert defending.
“They’re a very aggressive team and they were able to find our weaknesses,” Cheney’s Ifft said, adding that balls lofted over the defenders were particularly troublesome. “Archbishop Murphy’s a good team, I’ll give them that; they’re an amazing team.”
As she did Friday night in a 3-1 semifinal win over Sehome, Huggins got the Wildcats started on the right foot with an 8-yard strike to Ifft’s left side in the 13th minute.
Huggins received a short pass from senior forward Sam Pettinger after the Blackhawks failed to adequately clear the ball away from their box.
“It’s just all about being there at the right time,” Huggins said of her goals in consecutive games. The senior, who said she has a couple options to play college soccer, but wouldn’t reveal which programs top her short list, added that four years of playing alongside her senior teammates helped the Wildcats pull through on their championship promise.
“There was pressure, but we could handle it,” Huggins said. “The chemistry on-and-off the field is really great, we knew — no matter what — we had each others’ back.”
Beard, a Saint Mary’s (Calif.) College recruit, put the Wildcats ahead 2-0 in the 39th minute with a penalty kick after junior Caroline Brawner was fouled in the box.
Cheney’s Ifft kept the score from becoming lopsided with several key saves. Pettinger used a nifty heel flick to pass the ball to Brawner in the 72nd minute, but the junior’s point-blank attempt was smothered by Ifft.
“You’re not trying to break them, but it happens,” Henderson said of the constant pressure and dominating possession Archbishop Murphy used to stop Cheney. “You just kind of break their spirit.”
Archbishop Murphy, which outscored opponents 105-5 during its undefeated season, succeeded in keeping the ball away from Cheney’s dangerous senior forward Kellie Zakrzewski, who scored more than 90 goals in her high school career.
Zakrzewski, a Seattle Pacific University recruit, had one clear opportunity in the 46th minute when she cracked a 35-yard free kick at Archbishop Murphy goalkeeper Alexa Hughes, a Marshall University recruit.
The ball caromed off Hughes’ hand and smacked the crossbar before eventually being cleared out of danger.
The shot was Cheney’s only close scoring chance.
“It’s like a storybook,” Henderson said of the Archbishop Murphy seniors’ bookend state championships. “To me this is clearly the best team that the school has had for girls soccer.”
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