MOUNT VERNON
The King’s soccer team snagged its first state playoff win in its inaugural season with a 3-1 win over University Prep May 15 at Shoreline Stadium.
“It’s nice getting it,” goalkeeper Sean Webb said. “It puts some butterflies behind you. We’ve been playing strong ever since districts, no change in momentum.”
Freshman forward Ryan McCormick scored two goals, including the go-ahead goal in the 54th minute off a pass from midfielder Brett Simons.
“The second one I played the ball into space and took it,” McCormick said.
King’s hosts a quarterfinal game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 19 against either Vashon Island or LaCenter at Shoreline Stadium.
King’s struck first in the 28th minute when McCormick collected the ball after a corner kick at the edge of the penalty box. He set up in the middle of the field and booted it in.
Freshman midfielder Gunnar Ildhuso made it 3-1 when he cut across the field and scored on a pass from Simons.
University Prep scored its lone goal right before the half when Nihar Naik knocked in a header in the 39th minute.
King’s improved to 13-8 on the season with the win.
King’s captured the 1A bi-district championship with a 1-0 victory over Charles Wright May 12 at Mount Vernon High School.
Christian Friberg scored on an assist from Brett Simons in the 65th minute for the Knights.
King’s 4, Vashon Island 0
After a scoreless first half, the King’s boys soccer team aggressively attacked the goal in the second half against Vashon Island May 10.
The Knights scored three goals in the first eight minutes of the half and went on to a 4-0 victory in the 1A bi-district playoffs.
With the win, the Knights clinched a No. 1 seed in the state 1A tournament.
“We’ve been a second-half team throughout the year,” King’s coach Ben Somoza said. “(The Knights’) game really opened up after we got that first goal.”
King’s midfielder Michael Kenyon scored the game’s first goal off a corner kick by Gunnar Ildhuso in the 42nd minute.
“We wanted it more,” Kenyon said of the Knights’ effort. “We came out to play in the second half.”
Midfielder Brett Simons added a second goal in the 45th minute, turning in the middle of the field and launching a shot just inside the penalty box.
Simons scored again in the 48th minute, taking a pass from Nick Swanson on a breakaway and firing a shot with his left foot.
“We put more people up at the top so it was easier to play against their defense,” Simons said.
Hyantaek Kwon added the final goal on the final play of the game.
Vashon defender Cooper Crosby received a red card in the 57th minute for serious foul play and the Pirates played a man short the rest of the game. Crosby tripped a King’s player on a breakaway in front of the penalty box with no one else between him and the goalkeeper.
The Knights contained Vashon’s leading scorer, forward Shane Davis, and kept him from scoring. The defense played solid and thwarted the Pirates’ set offensive plays.
“We definitely put a stop to that,” Somoza said.
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