SUMNER — Good players are asked to make big plays in big games, which is exactly what Brady Henderson did for the Archbishop Murphy boys soccer team on Friday night.
Henderson, a junior midfielder, knocked in two goals in a five-minute span of the second half, and the outburst was the difference in a 2-1 victory over Shorecrest in a Class 2A state semifinal game at Sumner High School’s Sunset Chev Stadium.
The win moves the Wildcats into Saturday’s 5 p.m. state championship game against Fife.
Henderson’s goals erased a 1-0 halftime deficit for the Wildcats, who had plenty of scoring chances in the first period, but no success.
Archbishop Murphy’s first goal came on a free kick from about 20 yards out, which Henderson booted as the Scots were still positioning their defense.
“The keeper was lining up the wall, thinking I was going to wait and then probably try to curl it over (the wall),” Henderson said. “But that’s when I saw the opportunity to just tuck it (inside) the far post.”
“We look for teams that are slow transitioning back on defense or slow setting up walls, things like that,” Bartley said. “So when they failed to (set up the wall) quickly, we took advantage of that. It’s totally legal. We don’t ask for (a 10-yard space). We don’t slow the game down at all. … It was just a great opportunity taken by a great player.”
The Scots disagreed and filed a protest after the game, though that protest was denied.
Five minutes after his first goal Henderson scored again, this time with some deft footwork and ball control on a break from the right side. He moved his way through three defenders, found an opening to the net and booted a left-footed shot inside the near post.
“I was waiting to cut to my right foot because that’s my strong foot,” Henderson said. “(The goalkeeper) was forcing me to my left. … I’ve been working on my left foot and I put it right in the corner.”
“He’s our engine,” Bartley said. “He drives things forward. That’s just Brady Henderson. And that (goal) was just him at his best, doing his thing.”
Shorecrest, which will play in the third/fourth-place game at noon Saturday, got the game’s first goal barely five minutes in on a centering pass that junior forward Kevin Musar headed cleanly into the net. But despite the early deficit, the Wildcats never flinched.
“We stayed composed and that’s the biggest thing,” Bartley said. “And we knew going into the second half that if we’d just attack, play Murphy soccer, up tempo, work hard, and do the things that got us here, we’d be successful.”
The Wildcats, who have lost just once this season, will take aim at a coveted state title in today’s game.
“We knew we’d get a game (today), but there was only one way we’d get to play for something,” Henderson said. “Third and fourth place wasn’t what we wanted to play for. … At the very beginning of the season we set some goals for ourselves and winning the state title was one of them.
“I think we’re going to do it,” he added. “I know we’re going to do it. And I can’t wait to come out and play.”
At Sunset Chev Stadium
Goals: Brady Henderson (AM) 2, Kevin Musar (S). Goalkeepers: Archbishop Murphy—Ryan Henderson. Shorecrest—Spencer Haddenham-Gibler. Records: Archbishop Murphy 20-1. Shorecrest 19-3-1.
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