SNOHOMISH — Snohomish boys soccer coach Dan Pingrey said he continuously talks to his team about how it responds to adversity.
He tells his players: “It’s not about what happens, it’s about how you respond.”
Apparently, the Panthers have been getting the message.
After taking a 1-0 lead in the early minutes of Friday’s non-conference game against crosstown rival Glacier Peak, the Panthers gave up two goals in the final eight minutes of the first half and trailed 2-1 at halftime.
The defending Class 4A state champions responded by outscoring the Grizzlies 3-0 in the second half to earn a 4-2 victory.
“They are an older, mature bunch … so they don’t overreact or panic,” Pingrey said of his players. “They stuck to the game plan and they did well.”
Since Friday’s contest was a non-conference game, Pingrey subbed several members of his starting lineup out in the final minutes of the first half. He said subbing that many players at one time might have impacted the team’s chemistry.
“I will never sub that many people in a regular game all at once,” Pingrey said. “It was just to get everybody in and we lost our flow and our continuity and all that good stuff. It wasn’t a big deal.”
Trailing by a goal midway through the first half, Glacier Peak changed its formation to combat what Snohomish was doing offensively. The Grizzlies finally broke through with a goal in the 33rd minute. The goal was charged as an own-goal to Snohomish when senior forward Riley Prescott flashed in front of Panthers goalkeeper Cameron Beardsley on a corner kick. Prescott wasn’t able to get a touch on the ball, but he did get in Beardsley’s line of sight. The Panthers’ junior goalkeeper tried to punch the ball out, but instead hit it into his own net.
Less than four minutes later, the Grizzlies scored again and this time it was clearly credited to Prescott, who converted from 15 yards away on a deflection.
“Those last 20 minutes, we owned the possession and we dominated,” GP coach Kyle Veach said. “We got the two goals because of that. The boys played well in the first half and adjusted really well to the high pressure from one of the best teams in the state.”
The second half, however, belonged to the Panthers.
After scoring Snohomish’s lone goal in the first half, senior Blake Crutchfield assisted on the Panthers’ second of the night in the 42nd minute. Crutchfield delivered a pass from a throw in with pinpoint accuracy to the head of senior Gus Baxter, who put the ball away to tie the score 2-2.
Crutchfield tried the long throw-in several times during the game, converting the just one time, but each time threatening the Grizzlies’ defense.
In the 58th minute Crutchfield assisted freshman Hal Uderitz on a corner kick. Uderitz’s goal was the first of his high school career and gave the Panthers the lead for good.
“When you’ve got a guy that can throw the ball 50 yards into the net, I think it’s pretty easy to figure out what happened there,” Veach said. “When you have a weapon like that, use it. I think we out-possessed them for long periods until they got those goals at the end. We lost tonight with a lot of quality on our side against a real good team that had some good tricks.”
Crutchfield’s corner kicks and throw-ins are weapons, but just as important is the size of the Panthers’ frontline.
“We’ve got a lot of big guys that are deadly,” Pingrey said. “They want the ball and they are strong and athletic and not afraid to go after it. We’re just going to try and keep working on that and try to perfect that and get better at it so that regardless of how people defend us, we’re still getting opportunities.”
Snohomish’s final goal was scored on a breakaway by junior Judy Brennan in the 70th minute and put the game away.
The loss was Glacier Peak’s first of the season, but Veach said the Grizzlies should feel good about their effort.
“We’re happy with how we played,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that our mistakes lost the game, but at the end of the day to be able to outplay last year’s state champions and this year’s state favorites for long periods of time, we’re definitely proud of where we are.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
At Glacier Peak H.S.
Goals—Blake Crutchfield (Sno), Gus Baxter (Sno), Hal Uderitz (Sno), Judy Brennan (Sno) Riley Prescott (GP), Snohomish own goal. Assists—Blake Crutchfield (Sno) 2, George Montemor (Sno), Spencer Pettit (GP). Goalkeepers—Snohomish: Cameron Beardsley (1st half), Alex Fairhurst (2nd half). Glacier Peak: Sahm Noorfeshan. Records–Snohomish 2-0-0. Glacier Peak 1-1-0.
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