Backed by a full-team defensive effort and timely shots on-goal, Elma girls soccer punched its ticket to the state 1A playoffs for the first time in three seasons with a win over Seton Catholic in the District IV 1A third-place match on Saturday, Nov. 5.
Elma (13-5) will hit the road to Yakima to take on La Salle in the state 1A first round. Time and location of the match have not been determined yet.
“It was a good, hard fought game,” Elma head coach Scott Rockey said. “We expected a tough game. Montesano won, 2-1, on Thursday and we saw the game. We got opportunities and we capitalized on them.”
Playing at King’s Way Christian High School, the Eagles took flight by counter attacking the Cougars on every chance they’d get. Freshman midfielder Jillian Bieker opened the scoring with a 40-yard speculative shot in the 43rd minute.
With space, Bieker sent the shot on goal and the ball dipped just under the crossbar for the score. Late in the first half, Bieker attempted a similar shot and hit the crossbar to stay out.
“They were all speculative,” Rockey said of his team’s shots. “They gave her some space, which allowed her to line up the shot and hit it. The first one hit the crossbar and, with top spin, stayed out.”
Brooke Sutherby made it 2-0 in the 54th minute when defender Dallas Trusty got the ball to midfielder Peyton Elliott, who threaded the ball through the Cougars’ defense onto Sutherby’s foot. From there, the sophomore forward sent the ball home for the score.
“We were stacking girls back (after the second goal), but we were able to transition out on offense,” Rockey added. “We stayed pretty mobile. The girls are excited. We’re looking forward to state.”
Knights 3, Eagles 0
King’s Way Christian’s team speed was just a bit too much for Elma to handle on Thursday, Nov. 3, as the Knights topped the Eagles 3-0 in a District IV 1A tournament match at King’s Way in Vancouver.
The Knights displayed a full offensive onslaught from early on in the match on Thursday. In the 10th minute, King’s Way had shots by Bethany Hutchin and Andrea Finley hit the crossbar less than ten seconds apart.
MacKenzie Ellerston scored the eventual game-winning goal in the 20th minute. Ellerston juked a defender and fired a shot just out of the reach of Elma goalkeeper Holli Ray to give the Knights a 1-0 lead, which they would take into halftime.
While Elma displayed solid defense throughout the match, the Eagles struggled to string together the passes necessary to get their offense within striking distance.
In the 45th minute, Ellerston dished a quick pass to a wide open Payton Pulicella who bent a shot into the top left corner. Ellerston would get an assist from Finley in the 57th minute for the games final goal.
Elma’s best offensive opportunity came in the 64th minute. The Eagles earned a corner kick and the ball was batted around in front, but Elma couldn’t get a shot on goal before the Knights cleared the ball away.
Eagles 8, Wildcats 4
Eight was more than enough for the Elma soccer team on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The Eagles exploded for six goals in the first half and came away with an 8-4 victory over La Center in a District IV 1A girls soccer tournament loser-out match at Davis Field in Elma.
Elma’s Brooke Sutherby led the Eagles with a hat trick as one of five different Eagles to score on the night.
Elma grabbed control of the match in the first 17 minutes. The Eagles first shot on goal found the net when Sutherby sent a cross to Alicia Hook in the ninth minute. Hook chipped in a shot from about five yards out to give Elma the lead for good. Just more than two minutes later, Elma’s Jillian Bieker made a run up the left side and beat La Center goalkeeper Morgan Tolbert to put the Eagles up 2-0.
In the 17th minute, Peyton Elliott made a run in deep toward the end line, turned and found Molly Johnston at the top of the box. Johnston blasted in a shot from about 15 yards out to give Elma a 3-0 lead, but La Center would answer.
Less than a minute later, Kaylie Faul slipped a shot past Elma goalkeeper Holli Ray to put the Wildcats on the scoreboard. However, Elma answered with three more goals.
La Center worked to push up to create offense throughout the contest, but the Wildcats operated with a flat backfield, which the Eagles exposed with long passes to streaking forwards including Sutherby.
Sutherby got the first goal of her hat trick in the 21st minute when she ran under a through ball and beat the keeper one-on-one with a shot from about 12 yards out. She added another goal six minutes later off a cross by Kassedy Olson that was tipped out in front by the goalkeeper before Sutherby hammered it home.
Johnston added her second goal of the game off a corner in the 31st minute. Tolbert jumped to tap the ball out, but caught just a piece of the ball and it feel near her feet where Johnston fought for it and chipped it in to make it 6-1.
La Center wouldn’t go quietly into the muddy, cold night. The Wildcats added another goal in the 32nd minute on a shot by Kaiya Villiness and Villiness deflected a shot into the goal just moments before the whistle sounded for halftime.
Ray came out victorious on a penalty kick in the 38th minute to help keep the halftime score at 6-3. A hand ball was called in the box on Elma and Ellie Johnson lined up for the kick. Johnson shot left, but Ray guessed right and was able to bat the ball away before a rebound could be kicked.
Coming out of halftime, Elma needed just seven minutes to light up the scoreboard again. Sutherby ran under a through ball from Tawni Heller and beat the keeper from 10 yards.
Johnson scored the Wildcats final goal on a blast from 15 yards out, but Elma put together a connection to answer in stoppage time. Elliott had the ball knocked away by the keeper, but it rolled out to Johnston, who found Olson open on the right side for the goal to cap the score.
