MARYSVILLE — Despite relatively even possession and a one-shot differential between the two teams, Marysville Getchell was upended, 2-0, by Mountain View in the first round of the 3A girls state soccer tournament on Tuesday at Marysville Getchell High School.
The loss doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of the Chargers’ season, according to coach Sarah Hereth, especially for the seniors who will hoist a district championship banner in the gym after Marysville Getchell won the District 1 tournament to claim the top seed out of Wesco 3A.
“To be able to make a name for themselves and to be able to make history, that’s something I think they’ll be able to carry into their lives, just knowing that they had such a successful senior season,” Hereth said. “Unfortunately it ended on a loss, but it doesn’t erase the last 14 or 15 weeks of hard work and dedication.”
The Thunder were a tough draw for the Chargers, as Mountain View won the Greater Saint Helen’s League regular-season title with a 9-1-0 record, but dropped its first-round game in the West Central/Southwest Bi-District tournament to Lakes, 1-0, and advanced to state through the loser’s bracket.
The Thunder were the No. 5 seed out of districts.
Getchell was sent into scramble mode briefly after the Thunder went ahead 1-0 in the 15th minute on a looping shot from Ellie White that snuck past the goalkeeper outside the 18-yard box.
“It really set the precedent for the rest of the game,” Thunder head coach Dustin Thompson said. “In the postseason, if you can get one early, that really helps you out.”
The goal ended a five-game clean-sheet streak for the Chargers’ Maddy Grandbois, a Central Washington commit in basketball and natural outside back who transitioned to goalkeeper after Getchell’s keeper to start the season went down with an injury.
“We haven’t played down a lot of the season,” Hereth said, “and that tested our mental toughness. So to come out in the second half was all I could really ask of them, but Mountain View had good shots, so sometimes there’s nothing you can do when you have good shots on target.”
Getchell created plenty of chances and fired off eight shots, but just two were on target.
Meanwhile, five of Mountain View’s seven shots were on target.
The Thunder struck again when Olivia Fothergill’s howitzer from about 25 yards out found the top-left corner of the goal and put Mountain View up 2-0 in the 53rd minute.
In addition, Mountain View applied suffocating pressure on Marysville Getchell’s backline and created mayhem.
“That just shows intensity and effort, and I think Mountain View did a really good job of closing out whenever we had the ball and they did a great job of keeping that pressure on us the whole game, which is hard to do. They did a good job of doing that,” Hereth said.
The Chargers will graduate a senior-laden team, with nine seniors moving on after this season.
In addition to cementing their legacy at the school, Hereth believes the Chargers set a building block for future teams.
“To be able to have a team that can establish and set that bar for future teams is huge,” Hereth said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
