Kamiak gets quick goal, sinks Shorecrest

SHORELINE

The Kamiak girls soccer team doesn’t like to waste time at Shoreline Stadium.

Kamiak junior forward Cassidy Seckman scored 30 seconds into the game as the Knights clinched the No. 2 playoff seed from the Western Conference South Division with a 2-0 win over Shorecrest Tuesday night.

Kamiak (5-2-1 conference and 7-5-3 overall) will play at Lake Stevens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 in a Class 4A District 1 playoff game.

Just as the Knights did in a 2-1 win over Shorewood Oct. 9, Kamiak struck in the game’s first minute.

Seckman took a pass from Cara Munoz and knocked in a shot from 10 yards out from the left side of the goal.

“We’ve kind of focused on the first 10 minutes and attack teams early so they’re not quite ready for it,” said Kamiak coach Beth Stewart. “It’s worked for about three games for us now.”

Kamiak added its second goal in the 58th minute on a set play.

Junior defender Kayla Clement threw the ball in from the left sideline and freshman forward Lauren Luke flicked the ball on to sophomore midfielder Taylor Stanley. Stanley chested the ball down to her feet and fired a shot from about 15 yards out into the back of the net.

Shorecrest runs a four-defender, five-midfielder, one-forward formation with an emphasis on defense, but the Knights were able to find enough gaps in it Tuesday night.

“I think we attacked it really well,” Stewart said. “We played three forwards against them. It seemed to really open up a lot of opportunities for us.”

Both teams had nine shots in the game.

Goalkeeper Tana Foster earned the shutout for Kamiak.

Shorecrest, which beat Glacier Peak and Shorewood last week, came out flat on Senior Night against the Knights, goalkeeper Caroline Towles said.

“Our defense, we weren’t as strong as we were last week,” Towles said. “We were leaving people open and not marking our players when we needed. They were getting past us up in the front and getting open.”

Shorecrest fell to 5-3 in conference and 9-4-2 overall and concludes its regular season at 7:30 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace on Thursday. The Scots host a first-round 3A District playoff game Saturday evening at 7 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium.

Kamiak, which has just two seniors, wraps up the regular season at home against Mariner at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I didn’t expect to be this good but we’re progressing really well, we’re playing really good,” Stanley said. “We came out really pumped so we were really ready for this game. I don’t think we played our best but we played well enough to get the shots off.”