EVERETT — Going into Thursday night’s girls soccer game at Everett Memorial Stadium, everyone in the stands knew that the Bartley family would be the winners on the evening.
It was just a matter of which Bartley brother would get the bragging rights.
In what could prove to be a one-time grudge match, Jackson, coached by Mike Bartley, got the better of Marysville Pilchuck and first-year head coach Paul Bartley with a 1-0 decision in a Wesco crossover game.
“I feel bad,” Mike Bartley said. “I’m torn, but we had to get the W because we are in a race with Kamiak and we know that.
“The South is stronger this year. There are four teams that can go out there and play really well, so we have to stay sharp.”
Though Jackson (5-1-1 Wesco, 6-2-1 overall), which is in first place atop the South, has certainly had the better season than Marysville Pilchuck (2-5, 3-5) so far, Mike was still on edge before the game.
“I’m a tactical coach and he is the guy who has all the innovation,” the Jackson coach said before the game. “We’ve been preparing for anything. It’s nerve wracking to be honest.”
Paul Bartley threw everything he had at the Timberwolves, including a new three-forward formation and some new set pieces. But the Tomahawks couldn’t break through.
“The unfortunate thing is we don’t get to play them at full strength,” the MP coach said. “I thought the girls played really well.”
MP was without star defender Rebecca Lentz, who will attend Gonzaga next season on a soccer scholarship. Lentz tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee in a 3-1 loss to Snohomish Sept. 20 and won’t play soccer for possibly nine months. When MP’s No. 2 defender Tiffany Franks suffered an injury in the first half, that’s when Jackson struck.
The T-Wolves’ Ali Fitz set up Meggie Harris, who shot past MP’s Melissa Scheutze in goal in the 28th minute.
“Ali threw it to me and laid it off the dribble,” Harris said. “I shot it with my left and I don’t normally shoot with my left.”
Paul Bartley told his team before the game that it would be like a playoff game in the middle of the season. The MP coach was the junior varsity coach at Jackson last year and coached nearly everyone on the Timberwolves roster and Fitz and Harris were happy to stick it to their former coach.
“Revenge,” Fitz joked. “Because he left us.”
“I was thinking a lot about it,” Harris said.
Whitney Carter recorded a clean sheet in goal for the Timberwolves.
The teams are not scheduled to play again in 2011 unless they meet in the district playoffs and next season the WIAA will be shuffling the divisions. There is speculation that MP will drop to 3A, but the brothers are already working on negotiating another game for next preseason.
If there wasn’t enough Bartley excitement going on at the stadium, Paul was also celebrating his 32nd wedding anniversary and the eldest Bartley brother Doug’s daughter Kaylee played for Arlington in the Eagles’ 4-3 overtime loss to Cascade during the early game of the evening. The freshman forward nearly scored the game-winner in the last minute of regulation, but the shot pushed just wide. Paul’s daughter is also married to Raymond O’Dell, who coaches the C team for Jackson.
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