SNOHOMISH — Placed in the unusual position of playing from behind, the Snohomish Panthers decided they needed to spend some time in the corner.
Snohomish scored twice from corner kicks during the first six minutes of the second half, overturning a deficit to defeat the Mount Rainier Rams 2-1 Wednesday night in the first round of the 4A state boys soccer tournament.
Snohomish, the top seed from District 1, found itself trailing Mount Rainier, the No. 4 seed from District 3, 1-0 at halftime. But the Panthers received a series of corner kicks early in the second half, with Gus Baxter and Blake Crutchfield converting to reverse the score line.
“We’re a very dominant team on set pieces, that’s how we scored the majority of our goals this season,” said Crutchfield, who’s usually on the delivering end of the set pieces with his long throw-ins rather than the scoring end. “We really like to take advantage of those, and tonight we did.
“The first half was pretty slow,” Crutchfield added. “But at halftime we had a decent talk in the locker room and we really started to pick it up in the second half. I think the mentality totally switched in the second half.”
Snohomish (16-2-1) advanced to host Bellarmine Prep in the quarterfinals. That game is tentatively scheduled for Saturday.
Steven Chu scored for Mount Rainier, which finished its season 10-7-1.
In an ill-tempered affair that featured lots of fouling, including Mount Rainier defender Cody Parks being sent off for his second yellow card midway through the second half, saw Snohomish trail 1-0 at halftime courtesy of Chu’s free kick from 20 yards out in the 33rd minute.
But the Panthers wasted little time turning things around in the second half. Less than two minutes into the second half Snohomish tied it courtesy of a corner kick. Coleman French delivered a ball to the far post from the left, and Baxter rose above the fray to loop a header into the top corner and make it 1-1.
The Snohomish fans had barely finished celebrating when the Panthers took the lead. Snohomish got another corner kick in the 46th minute. This time the Rams cleared French’s delivery. However, the ball looped toward Crutchfield stationed just outside the penalty box. Crutchfield let the ball bounce, then volleyed a looping shot into the far corner to give the Panthers a sudden 2-1 lead.
Mount Rainier pressed in the final 15 minutes, but spurned a pair of good scoring chances in close, and the Panthers moved on.
At Snohomish H.S.
Goals—Steven Chu (MR), Gus Baxter (S), Blake Crutchfield (S). Assists—Coleman French (S). Goalkeepers—Mount Rainier: Alex Weaver, Brogan Meyers. Snohomish: Alex Fairhurst, Cameron Beardsley. Records—Snohomish 16-2-1, Mount Rainier 10-7-1.
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