MUKILTEO — Five years, five titles.
Sitting atop the Wesco South standings at the end of the season has become familiar territory for the Jackson Timberwolves’ girls soccer team.
Jackson won its fifth straight Wesco South title Thursday night defeating the Kamiak Knights 2-1 and battling extreme windy conditions at Kamiak High School.
The victory allowed Jackson (13-0-1, 40 points) to clinch the South with two games remaining in the regular season and also earned the Timberwolves their fourth straight trip to the 4A state tournament.
“Feels really good for the seniors,” Jackson head coach Mike Bartley said, referring to seniors Kristi Kingma, Sara O’Neal and Alyssa Hoard.
Kingma scored her 19th goal of the season in the 15th minute drilling a shot from 20-yards out into the right corner of the net.
“It (Kingma’s shot) was accelerated a bit,” Bartley said when asked if the wind played a factor in the game.
Kamiak’s Cara Munoz nearly tied the score in the 30th minute when it looked as though the ball crossed the goal line. But it was ruled that Jackson keeper KC Wilson saved the ball in midair and no goal was recorded.
“We certainly had one in the net that didn’t count. That puts a damper on (the players). It’s tough to battle back when you worked hard for a score and it was negated,” Kamiak head coach Beth Stewart said.
The Knights battled back in the second half when Hillary Hermes knocked in a rebound shot off a Wilson save attempt. The goal tied the score at 1-1.
Ellen Favale’s goal in the 70th minute proved to the game-winner.
Favale chipped in the ball after it deflected off Kamiak goalkeeper KJ Stupey’s hands.
The rest of the way Jackson played keep away from Kamiak and its star midfielder Kelli Stewart.
“It was all about Kelli and making sure she wasn’t loose to shoot,” Bartley said of his game plan for stopping the Kamiak midfielder who has scored a league-leading 21 goals.
Stewart showed off her powerful leg on two 45-yard free kicks that missed clearing the top bar.
“Our defense played stellar. They kept us in it,” Bartley said about a defense that entered the game with six consecutive shutouts.
“KC (Wilson) has stepped up and played super … the whole second half of the season she has been outstanding,” Bartley said of his freshman goalkeeper.
Kamiak (10-3-1, 31) had entered the game on a four-game winning streak and coach Stewart praised her defense for its efforts against Jackson.
“I was really pleased with our defense. They did exactly the game plan that we wanted them to do and they followed it to a ‘T’ defensively. It was a great battle between two really great teams,” Stewart said.
Bartley also praised Kamiak saying that his team came in pumped for the match up.
“The respect we have for them is immense,” Bartley said.
Jackson faces Snohomish for the 4A District 1 championship on November 1. In the meantime, the Timberwolves will concentrate on the final two regular season games versus Shorewood and Edmonds-Woodway.
“We’re just looking towards Shorewood,” Bartley said when asked if he’s looking forward to the possible match up of undefeated division leaders.
Kamiak will try to wrap up the South’s No. 2 seed when they finish off the season against Meadowdale (Oct 23) and Mariner (Oct 25).
At Kamiak H.S.
Goals—Jackson: Kingma, Favale. Kamiak:H. Hermes. Assists—Jackson: Bolmes.
Kamiak: Stewart. Goalkeepers-Jackson: Wilson. Kamiak: Stupey.
Records-Jackson 13-0-1 in league and overall. Kamiak-10-3-1.
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