By AARON SWANEY
Herald Writer
TACOMA – In the game of soccer one mistake can make all the difference.
No one knows this better than Snohomish girls soccer coach Dan Pingrey.
“Whenever there’s a goal, there’s a mistake,” said Pingrey. “We made one mistake and, unfortunately, it cost us.”
The mistake Pingrey is referring to led to the lone goal in Snohomish’s 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Bellarmine Prep Saturday in the Class 4A state playoffs at Stadium Bowl.
Wth the victory Bellarmine Prep advances to the semifinals to face Mead Friday at Federal Way Stadium, while Snohomish was ousted from the single-elimination tournament.
After aggressively attacking the Snohomish defense to start the first half, Bellarmine Prep stumbled upon a Panther miscue and pounced upon it.
Bringing its defensive stopper up field, Bellarmine Prep noticed that the Snohomish forwards failed to react to the change, thus creating a mismatch in the open field. Taking full advantage of the bunder was Bellrmine Prep defender Christine Mintz, who knocked home a nice shot to give Bellarmine Prep a 1-0 lead 18 minutes into the first half.
“The one goal started from (Bellarmine Prep’s stopper) and our people weren’t following her,” said Pingrey. “It was a nice job and a great job to finish it.”
Following the goal the Panthers became much more aggressive on the offensive end. Unfortunately their aggression resulted in no goals and only a handful of real good chances the rest of the game.
A couple of free kicks came close, and a few tough shots in traffic found the vicinity of the goal, but all were easily corraled by Bellarmine Prep goalie Laura Hawkins, who recorded the shutout.
The brightest spot for the Panthers Saturday was the play of their own goalie Emily Cornwell. The junior came up with stop after stop in the second half to keep the Snohomish deficit at one, while also shouting directions to her defensive comrades during the entire game.
“(Emily) stepped up big time today when we needed her to,” Pingrey said. “Overall, she played a great game.”
With its young cast of characters, only six seniors pepper the Panther roster, there’s no doubt Snohomish will be back for another run next season.
“I’m proud of our girls,” said Pingrey, “but we have a lot of youth here and I know they all want to be back next year.
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