Seven teams from Western Conference, Cascade Conference, Northwest A/2B League made semis
By Tony Dondero
Enterprise reporter
If you follow prep soccer you know that some of the best players and teams in the state come from Snohomish and North King counties.
Talent from the Western Conference, Cascade Conference and Northwest A/2B Leagues was on display at Harry Lang Stadium in Lakewood and Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner last week at the state semifinals and finals.
Seven teams from the area made the final four in their respective classifications: Everett and Shorecrest in 3A (Everett of the Wesco North, clearly the best team in the tournament, took first while Shorecrest of the Wesco South took fourth); Jackson of the Wesco South, despite not having star Laura Hernandez who played for the U-17 team from her native Colombia this fall, took fourth in 4A; Archbishop Murphy lost to eventual champion Fife in the 2A semifinals and Cedarcrest lost to Fife in the final. Both teams hail from the Cascade Conference. King’s, the Cascade Conference regular season champions, took third in 1A . Shoreline Christian of the Northwest A/2B League took fourth in 2B/1B.
Strong seasons were also turned in by Shorewood, which upset the South Puget Sound League North regular season champion Kentwood, a team ranked No. 1 in 4A by the Seattle Times, in the first round of state, and Meadowdale, the regular season champions of the Wesco South.
One final note about soccer::A Meadowdale parent or fan (I couldn’t decipher his name from the voicemail and he didn’t leave a call back number) called to complain that I/we did not place more emphasis on fouls committed by Shorecrest in the 3A District semfinal game, won by Shorecrest. I’m assuming (he wasn’t specific) that he was referring to when Mavericks’ leading scorer Julia Fjortoft was fouled in the sixth minute of Meadowdale’s loss that night.
Fjortoft hurt her ankle on the play and missed the rest of the game.
Shorecrest midfielder Jessica Rankin made a tackle on that play but I was at that game and no yellow card or red card was issued by the referee. I thought it was routine, but I did write about Fjortoft’s injury and the fact that she didn’t return. If it had been an unusually hard or intentional foul you would think the referee would issue a card. If that had happened it would’ve been newsworthy. Since he didn’t, I looked at it as one of the moderate amount of fouls called in that game.
A certain amount of physical play in soccer is to be expected. I covered probably at least a dozen games this fall, and from my anecdotal observations aside from a few shoves here and there didn’t see much dirty play. The only card I witnessed during the playoff games I covered was in the King’s-Highland third-place game. King’s Kendall Thoreson beat the goalkeeper inside the penalty box and was about to score when she was tripped from behind by a Highland defender. A red card was given to the Highland player, who looked to be upset by the play.
Girls soccer is generally pretty tame compared to boys. Fjortoft is a very good player and her injury certainly hurt Meadowdale, but to say that one play cost Meadowdale a berth to state might be a stretch. A big part of sports is overcoming adversity, regardless, and Meadowdale coach Chris Baldwin said after the game his team had to regroup for its loser-out game.
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