MARYSVILLE — Marysville Pilchuck ran out of answers.
After answering each of Shorewood’s three goals in regulation and first six penalty shots, the Tomahawks girls soccer team watched Thunderbirds goalkeeper Ariel Garay save the seventh in a 4-3 shootout loss in a first-round 3A District 1 game at Quil Ceda Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“We worked on penalty kicks for the last few weeks but we didn’t go seven deep,” said Marysville Pilchuck head coach Paul Bartley with a laugh.
The win advances Shorewood to a winner-to-state district semifinal game against Meadowdale on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium. Meadowdale beat Ferndale 3-0 in a district first-round game on Saturday. Marysville Pilchuck hosts Ferndale in a loser-out game on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The loss put a damper on a strong performance by MP forward Amanda Klep, who had a hat trick and answered every Shorewood goal with one of her own. The first came quickly as Klep, on a set kickoff play, scored less than a minute after the Thunderbirds’ first goal of the game.
In the second half, Klep and Mackinzie Nolte hooked up for a goal to tie the game at 2-2 after Shorewood’s Sienna Helland scored less than 6 minutes after the half. From the corner, Nolte fired a beautiful cross into the goal box that Klep headed into the lower-right corner of the goal. With just over 10 minutes to play, Klep did it again, firing a rocket from just outside of the goal box past Garay to tie the game at 3-3.
“Amanda is the engine and everybody plays off of her,” Bartley said.
Shorewood beat Marysville Pilchuck 4-0 in the two teams’ first meeting on Oct. 24 and Shorewood coach Bill Wilkins said the difference Saturday was the play of Klep and Nolte.
“Their two people up front we didn’t track them well,” Wilkins said. “They found the ball and finished. That’s what they do when they’re successful, working those two in the middle. When we played them the first time we handled them well, but this time we didn’t.”
As for Klep? “All you can do is tip your hat,” Wilkins said. “Three great goals, that’s pretty powerful.”
The first half was played in a driving wind and constant rain, but the second half the rain tapered off and allowed MP to control play for much of the final 40 minutes of play. After the two teams traded a few shots to end regulation, the game went to overtime.
In the overtime periods, both teams had a few chances to score but nothing found the back of the net and the game was sent to penalty kicks, setting up a showdown between MP goalkeeper Emily Dunston and Shorewood’s Garay.
Both goalkeepers got their hands on a couple of shots, but the the first six players on each team were converted to keep everything even. On Shorewood’s seventh attempt, Dunston got her hands on Emma McIntosh’s shot but it was too strong and continued into the goal, setting up Garay’s game-winning save.
“Ariel has stepped her game up so much from where she was last year,” Wilkins said. “The biggest thing is not making mistakes. All the other shots were out of her range, but the one that came to her she saved the one that came to her. She’s done that all season long.”
At Marysville Pilchuck H.S.
Goals—Amanda Klep (MP) 3, Christine Donnan (S), Sienna Helland (S), Zoe Vincini (S). Assists—Salyna McDonald (S), Vincini, Mackinzie Nolte (MP). Goalkeepers—Shorewood: Ariel Garay. Marysville Pilchuck: Emily Dunston. Records—Shorewood 10-4-2 overall. Marysville Pilchuck 8-7-0.
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