SNOHOMISH — The Snohomish Panthers are now just two wins away from etching their names into Washington state boys soccer folklore.
Snohomish took another step toward defending its state title by beating the Bellarmine Prep Lions 3-1 Saturday evening in the 4A state quarterfinals.
Just four schools have ever repeated as boys soccer state champion in Washington’s largest division, with the most recent coming more than a decade ago when Decatur won the titles in 2001 and 2002. Now Snohomish, which claimed last year’s 4A title, finds itself within shouting distance of becoming the fifth.
“Wow!” was the reaction of Snohomish senior forward Kristian Barney, who scored the Panthers’ second goal, to returning to the final four. “Pretty much wow. At the beginning of the year we decided we wanted to go back, and we’ve done it. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s fun, for sure.
“It would be a legacy,” Barney added about the possibility of repeating. “We’ve got to make it happen.”
Tanner Corrie and Blake Crutchfield also scored goals for Snohomish (17-2-1), which advanced to face Inglemoor in the semifinals Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup. It’s the same stadium in which the Panthers lifted the championship trophy a year ago.
“It’s been an interesting year,” Snohomish coach Dan Pingrey said. “Last year we had all kinds of accolades, and this year it’s been like, ‘Yeah they’re not going to get there.’ If you look at the rankings, I told the guys, ‘Nobody is giving you the respect you probably deserve as a defending state champion.’ For us, we had to earn it. That’s the two words we’ve been sticking by: earn it. Today was a good job, they earned a lot today.”
Alex Schneller scored the goal for Bellarmine Prep, which ended its season 12-2-2.
Snohomish found itself in control on the scoreboard from early on as Corrie gave the Panthers the lead less than six minutes in. Play was even the rest of the way, but the Panthers took a 2-0 lead through Barney early in the second half. Then after Bellarmine Prep got back within one, Crutchfield blasted a rocket from 40 yards out to give Snohomish the necessary insurance.
“I thought we did really well, especially since prom was last night and I had seven seniors there,” Pingrey said with a laugh. “Yeah, I was a little worried — I was a lot worried, actually.
“We knew what to expect, we knew (the Lions) would come out hard,” Pingrey added. “We were going to have to match that and ultimately break them down, and I was proud of the guys.”
Snohomish scored the all-important first goal early in Saturday’s contest, and it came from a familiar source. Crutchfield’s long throw-ins have been the Panther’s deadliest weapon since the senior midfielder first stepped on campus, and it was his long throw from the left that lead to the opener as it was nodded down by Gus Baxter at the far post right to the feet of Corrie, who poked it home from close range to give Snohomish a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.
“That was really important,” Barney said. “In Bellarmine’s last three games they’ve scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of each of them. So we thought, ‘Oh boy we need to get a couple goals early.’”
Bellarmine Prep caused Snohomish troubles at the other end with long throw-ins of its own from Luke Witker, but the Lions weren’t able to convert any of those scrambles into attempts on goal. Then it was Snohomish that found the net again nine minutes into the second half. The Panthers broke quickly after cleaning a corner kick, with Corrie carrying the ball up the field with speed. He fed the ball ahead to Coleman French, who played a terrific through ball to release Barney free on goal down the middle. Barney fired past Bellarmine Prep goalkeeper Dylan Zurfluh to make it 2-0.
The Lions didn’t allow Snohomish’s second goal to deflate them, and Bellarmine Prep got back within one in the 62nd minute. The Lions worked the ball down the left, with the cross going to the far post to Witker. Witker headed the ball back out front, where Schneller banged it in to make it 2-1.
But Crutchfield delivered the knockout blow in the 70th minute, and oh what a blow it was. The Panthers were awarded a free kick 40 yards away from the Bellarmine Prep goal. Crutchfield stepped up and hammered a laser beam that screamed into the top-left corner to make it 3-1.
“It was a fantastic strike,” Pingrey said. “I don’t think that ball even (rotated), that was a dead ball. He hit that thing clean. That’s the best strike he’s had all year. You could see it, he took his time and thought about it, and it was a cracker.”
And now the Panthers get their shot at history.
“(Repeating as state champion) hasn’t happened in a long time,” said Pingrey, who also coached the Panthers to state titles in 2000 and 2006. “If you think about all the great Snohomish teams that were ranked high and won state championships, no Snohomish team has been able to do that twice. So they have a chance to make some history here in Snohomish, and generally it’s tough to do. It’s exciting.”
At Snohomish H.S.
Goals—Tanner Corrie (S), Kristian Barney (S), Alex Schneller (BP), Blake Crutchfield (S). Assists—Gus Baxter (S), Coleman French (S), Luke Witker (BP). Goalkeepers—Bellarmine Prep: Dylan Zurfluh. Snohomish: Alex Fairhurst, Cameron Beardsley. Records—Snohomish 17-2-1. Bellarmine Prep 12-2-2.
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