Timberwolves win state opener

EVERETT — Jackson coach Michael Bartley made a point of emphasizing one thing before Tuesday night’s first-round Class 4A state tournament game.

“Everybody’s a senior, so everybody plays like it,” Bartley told his players.

A pair of freshmen followed Bartley’s advice.

Forward Kristi Kingma scored off an assist by defender Sara O’Neal three minutes into the first half to lead Jackson to a 1-0 victory over Gig Harbor at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Kingma outran her defender to track down O’Neal’s pass in the middle of the field and forced the Gig Harbor keeper to come out of the goal.

“Sara played an awesome ball just over the top,” Kingma said. “Kaley (Mitchell) happened to touch it and I beat the defender and just placed it like I’ve been practicing.”

The victory means the Timberwolves will host a quarterfinal game against either Redmond or South Kitsap at 7 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, Nov. 13) at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Kingma also scored a goal and had an assist in Jackson’s 4-3 overtime shootout victory over Monroe in last week’s Northwest District 4A championship game.

“It’s not every day you get to play with players like Dani (Oster) and Sara,” Kingma said. “When I’m up there I feel so confident that they can get me the ball. I just have confidence in my teammates that whenever they have it I can be there and score.”

Based on the barrage of shots in the first half by both teams, Bartley didn’t think one goal would secure the Wolfpack’s first-ever state victory.

The Tides ended up with 10 shots in the first half, while the Wolfpack had nine.

“We should have had three (goals) in that first 10 minutes,” Bartley said. “I thought we really could have. We’ll take one.”

Nursing that 1-0 lead, Jackson relied on its defense to fend off the Tides’ attack in the second half.

“(Against) Monroe, our offense carried us,” Bartley said. “But tonight our defense carried us.”

Senior defender Katie Waldin and junior midfielder Farrah Ragsdale dominated the action in the middle of the field and forced Gig Harbor to the outside, which was one of the Timberwolves’ objectives.

“(Waldin) is our dominant air person and she came up again,” Bartley said. “Her job is to do that with Farrah. Farrah Ragsdale and her … take care of the middle for us. They did well against Monroe and again tonight they came through.”

Last season Jackson was eliminated in the first round of the district playoffs by Snohomish. As the minutes ticked down in the second half of Tuesday’s contest, Bartley implored his players to remember what happened against the Panthers.

The Timberwolves’ goal coming into the season was to go farther than they did last year, Bartley said. By winning the Wesco South title the Wolfpack clinched a berth to state.

This was Jackson’s second appearance at state. The Timberwolves lost 2-1 in a shootout in their only other state appearance in 2000.

“As a freshman to go to state is just amazing,” Kingma said. “Even though it was a tough second half, I was proud of everybody and was just glad to get one for the seniors.”