With three players missing with injury, including leading scorer Lacee Ross, Snohomish outlasted the Western Conference South Division’s No. 4 seed Mountlake Terrace 1-0 in a loser-out District 1 playoff game Nov. 4 at Mount Vernon High School.
The Panthers, winners of three straight including a 1-0 overtime victory against Lake Stevens earlier in the week, improved to 12-2-4 overall and earned the district’s third seed to state.
The Hawks, who finished the season 10-8-1 and won seven of their last nine games, defeated the North’s No. 3 seed Cascade and the South’s No. 2 seed Meadowdale before reaching the final four.
“It has been a crazy year,” said Dan Pingrey, whose Panthers missed state last year for the first time in 10 years. “We have had five players out because of knee injuries this season, three are still missing. My lineup has changed almost nightly. But our freshmen have stepped in and have played well.”
After a hard-fought, physical first half — controlled mostly by the Panthers’ speedy forwards — Snohomish broke a 0-0 tie thanks to the head of freshman Kirstie Perron. Perron, who had settled near the right goalpost, headed in a crossing pass from senior Kelsey Manning to score the game’s lone goal in the 64th minute.
“I can’t even express how great my first varsity goal is in a game this big,” said Perron, who found the net five times as a member of the Snohomish’s junior varsity squad.
“I’ve wanted to play varsity since I was little. It feels great to give something back to this team.”
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