EVERETT — The Archbishop Murphy girls soccer team is heading into the postseason with some positive momentum.
In their final regular season game of the year, the Wildcats easily dismissed South Whidbey 3-0 in a Cascade Conference contest Oct. 24 at Kasch Park in Everett.
Freshman midfielder Lindsey Bos scored a pair of goals in the first half, the first unassisted and the second off a pass from freshman Sammi Pettinger. Sophomore Melissa VonderHofen added a third goal via a corner kick by freshman Alli Beard in the second half.
Archbishop Murphy outshot South Whidbey 22-2 in the first half with most of the action taking place in the Falcons’ half of the field.
“I thought we did pretty good,” Bos said. “We passed the ball around a lot and we set up the field. We controlled the ball and won most of the 50/50 balls.”
The Wildcats’ dominance enabled head coach Pat Jack to send in her reserves in the second half.
“We improved from the last time we played South Whidbey,” Jack said. “The passing is getting better. We got to play everybody which we didn’t last time. We got all of our players in which was nice.”
Since a 5-0 loss to Cedarcrest on Oct. 10, the Wildcats seem to have rebounded well. Archbishop Murphy closed out the season with three straight victories and outscored its opponents 15-0.
“We’ve made a big improvement over the last week,” Bos said. “We’ve come more together as a team and started passing more and playing more as a team and communicating together.”
Bos’ two goals brought her season total to eight, a positive development, according to Jack, who is constantly encouraging her freshman standout to be more aggressive on offense.
“Today she picked it up,” Jack said.
In their first meeting, Archbishop Murphy defeated South Whidbey 2-0 in a much closer game.
“The first time it was way different,” Jack said. “We almost didn’t pull it off. This time it was very comfortable. The passing was much better. Our kids are starting to pick up the speed. I thought they looked good. … It was a great last (regular) season game for the seniors.”
Archbishop Murphy will host a first-round playoff game against Burlington-Edison or Sultan at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28.
The teams the Wildcats will be facing in the playoffs have a much larger enrollment. Last year most of the 2A schools were closer in size to Archbishop Murphy, which has about 300 fewer students than many of its current counterparts.
“We haven’t played these big schools,” Jack said. “It’ll be interesting. We’re going to do our very best. We’re looking forward to the games. The kids are pumped.”
The Wildcats start four freshmen and their play will go a long way towards determining the team’s postseason success.
“They’re doing well,” Jack said. “They come to us and they’re pretty ready.”
In past years, some freshmen have been hesitant to take shots later in the season because they don’t want the responsibility, Jack said.
She doesn’t think that will be a problem this year.
“I think this group might step up,” Jack said. “They seem to have more get up and go than some of our other freshman groups.”
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