STANWOOD — Stanwood responded from an early 1-0 deficit with four unanswered goals to keep the Spartans’ season alive and eliminate Oak Harbor from the 3A District 1 Tournament.
“Going down a goal early then bouncing back was great,” Stanwood head coach Kyle Veach said about his team’s 4-1 win. “We haven’t been down 1-0 many times and it was great to see that we were able to keep momentum.”
The Wildcats’ Andrew Mitchell opened the scoring with a goal against the run of play in the 12th minute, before the Spartans drew level on Laurence Wanambisi’s strike 20 minutes later.
Thirty seconds after the start of the second half, Colin Cuchna’s bending free-kick from just outside the Oak Harbor 18-yard box found the back of the net to give Stanwood the lead for good.
“That changed the scope of the game,” Veach said. “Just a phenomenal free kick.”
Nate Thompson added an insurance goal in the 63rd and Cuchna tallied his second in the 74th to wrap up the win. Stanwood will play Shorecrest in a winner-to-state/loser-out match on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium.
“We know they’re a good side and we played them once early in the season … and lost to them on an own goal,” Veach said. “We’re looking forward to playing them again, it will be a big challenge and test.”
At Stanwood H.S.
Goals—Andrew Mitchell (OH), Laurence Wanambisi (S), Colin Cuchna 2 (S), Nate Thompson (S). Assists—Logen Flam (S), Nick Smoody (S), Conner Tiland (S). Goalkeepers—Oak Harbor: Kevin Silveira. Stanwood: Jordan Schafer. Records—Oak Harbor 8-10-1 overall. Stanwood 13-4-2.
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