SHORELINE — The King’s and Archbishop Murphy boys soccer teams combined for 52 goals in their first seven games of the season.
However, goals were a bit harder to come by when the Knights and Wildcats squared off Friday night.
Archbishop Murphy’s Sam Johnson netted the lone goal of the game in the 70th minute and the Wildcats hung on to defeat King’s 1-0 in a physical Cascade Conference contest at Woolsey Stadium.
“We knew that going in — it’s going to be a physical game — because it always is,” Archbishop Murphy head coach Mike Bartley said. “Both teams try to fight for every 50-50 ball.”
The Wildcats got the game-winning goal late in a contest played in heavy rain and wind. Archbishop Murphy’s Diego Rios set up for a free kick just outside the box and got the ball to Johnson, who redirected it into the back of the net.
“It’s been a great rivalry over the years. It always ends up like this,” Bartley said. “We worked hard on restarts and that’s what it ended up being, was a restart. All of their chances were off all their corners — we were both battling it out on the field — but it came down to a restart.”
Johnson knew he had a chance to score, and was hoping his teammate would get him the ball instead of taking the shot himself.
“I was just hoping he wouldn’t shoot it, because I knew there was going to be that ball open on the near post,” said Johnson, a freshman in his first season for Archbishop Murphy. “That goalie is my club goalie so I know he has good hands. I just wanted to get anything past him I could.”
Both goalkeepers shined in a game that featured the ball skipping across the turf. Several long free kicks found their way sailing toward the goal, but King’s goalkeeper Lars Helleren and Archbishop Murphy’s Ryan Henderson pulled them down.
“Lars is a stud,” said King’s head coach Sam Hartman, who played for Bartley at Jackson High School. “He doesn’t let anything by him. He’s just real solid in the air. You can just depend on him. It was unfortunate that they sent a runner across the middle (who) hit a perfect ball. There was nothing he could have done about that goal.”
Several Wildcat players are on a club team with Helleren, and know just how tough it is to get the ball past the sophomore. As a team, King’s has allowed just six goals all season.
“Basically, Lars is in the net and like six or seven of my players play with him year-round so they’re very respectful of him, almost too much,” Bartley said. “It’s like they were trying to be really precise.”
In the other goal was Henderson, another strong keeper who has helped the Wildcats shut out their opponents in six Cascade Conference contests. Archbishop Murphy has allowed just one goal this year, in a 3-1 non-conference victory over Hockinson in the Wildcats’ second game of the season.
“Ryan Henderson is an awesome goalkeeper. He just is,” Bartley said. “He’s a gamer. He comes to play. He’s very cagey. If you watch him out there, he’s very confident.”
It was another down-to-the-wire thriller that has become the custom when Archbishop Murphy and King’s meet. The two teams split their games last season, with each team winning by a single goal.
“We look forward to this game,” Bartley said. “The boys were excited. We couldn’t wait to get over here on the turf.”
“This is probably our biggest game of the year,” Johnson added. “We don’t take this one as anything less than a state game for us. Especially this one, because it gets us ahead in the league.”
Freshman forward Nii Engmann tried to get things going for King’s (4-2-0 league, 5-3-0 overall), and made a couple of runs toward the Wildcats’ goal. But nobody could get the ball past Henderson.
“Nii is a freshman and he did a great job,” Hartman said. “He was alone up there a lot and just battled and worked his butt off.”
Archbishop Murphy is undefeated in league play with just a game against Cedarcrest left before it completes its first cycle through the Cascade Conference. At 6-0 in league — and 7-0-1 overall — the Wildcats are exactly where they want to be at this point in the season.
“(King’s is) one of the best teams that we’ll play. It’s a measure for us,” Bartley said. “We’ve always talked about how we want to try to really attack the games the first round, because if you can try to win every game in the first round, then you put pressure on them to chase you.
“So far it’s working out.”
At King’s H.S.
Goals—Sam Johnson (AM). Assists—Diego Rios (AM). Goalkeepers—Archbishop Murphy: Ryan Henderson. King’s: Lars Helleren. Records—Archbishop Murphy 6-0-0 league, 7-0-1 overall. King’s 4-2-0, 5-3-0.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
