The Cedarcrest girls soccer team is in the 2A state championship. The Red Wolves 2-0 victory over East Valley (Spokane) was impressive as the Cascade Conference champs pounded away at the Knight’s goal until they surrendered.
Cedarcrest outshot the Knights 8-0 in the first half and 15-1 overall, but goalkeeper Caitlin MacFarlane made spectacular save after spectacular save and the teams were scoreless at half.
“She was amazing tonight,” East Valley coach Gabe Escobar said.
She was amazing until the 60th minute when McKenna Swanson lined up for a free kick from long range. Swanson looped the ball over the defense and MacFarlane bobbled the save, leaving Gwen Bieck in position for an easy goal from about a yard out.
In the 71st minute the Red Wolves iced it with a goal by Tanya Zakrajsek. Freshman forward Karli White made a nearly perfect shot from the right side and MacFarlane just got her fingertips on it, but there was Zakrajsek to clean it up from the left.
“It felt awesome,” the senior midfielder said. “All I did was make a run because that’s what we were talking about during halftime, making the extra run.”
Zakrajsek won the WIAA sportsmanship award after the game, awarded to a player from each team.
It was quite a physical game from the beginning to the end and two Knights earned yellow cards for especially hard fouls. The second came against Katie Walsh, who was the second Red Wolf player to be carted off the field with an injury. Walsh and Morgan Kather suffered injuries to the foot and leg respectively that make them doubtful for today’s championship game with Interlake.
Cedarcrest coach Evan Hatch didn’t know what to expect prior to the game, going against a team from eastern Washington.
“You never know what to expect with the eastside,” the Red Wolves coach said. “We knew that in general teams over there work really hard an play their hearts out and that we would see that when we came to the game today.”
As tough as it was to break through the Knight’s goal, Cedarcrest felt like beating defending state champions Sehome in the quarterfinals would send them to their preseason goal: a state championship.
“I definitely think it was the moment … going up 2-0 against Sehome in the quarterfinals,” the Cedarcrest coach said. “That really helped us feel like this might actually be the year that we make it and win it.
“It felt emphatic and it felt like that was our ticket to the championship.”
The Red Wolves will have to get by Interlake, which outlasted Archbishop Murphy 1-0 in the other semifinal. The championship is today once again at Shoreline Stadium at 4 p.m. Archbishop Murphy plays East Valley for third place at noon.
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