SHORELINE — The Mountlake Terrace High School boys soccer team’s Cinderella story didn’t come to an end Tuesday evening, but it did hit a speed bump.
Mount Vernon’s Aaron Diaz scored the golden goal a minute into the second overtime, giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 victory over the Hawks in the semifinals of the Class 3A District 1 tournament at Shoreline Stadium.
Mountlake Terrace, the No. 10 seed, unexpectedly played its way into the semifinals, and the Hawks were minutes away from reaching a second straight penalty shootout — Mountlake Terrace upset second-seeded Shorecrest on PKs three days earlier.
But Diaz picked up the ball at the left side of the penalty box, dribbled along the top edge, then hit a right-footed shot across the grain that just snuck inside the near post to send the Bulldogs (14-0-3) to Saturday’s championship game, as well as earn Mount Vernon a spot at state.
Mountlake Terrace (8-9-2) will face No. 5 Monroe in a winner-to-state game at 5 p.m. Thursday at Shoreline Stadium.
“Honestly, we played with a lot of heart,” Mountlake Terrace coach Chris Mitalas said. “I think that’s the theme of this team. We don’t take anything for granted, we go after every single team and we play like it’s our last game. We came up short tonight, but the boys are playing great, they’re on a good run, we’re playing with house money being the No. 10 seed, and we’re fine. We’re going to come back and we’re going to state, hands down.”
The first half was played to a scoreless stalemate, with Mountlake Terrace defender Fedel Tewolde at the center of the action on both ends. First, in the first minute, Tewolde smashed a shot off the crossbar following chaos from a corner kick. Then in the 27th minute Tewolde blocked a shot off the goal line after Mount Vernon’s Miguel Galindo connected with a bicycle kick following more corner-kick chaos at the other end.
In the second half it was Mountlake Terrace goalkeeper Brek Harasen who got the Hawks to overtime. First, in the 43rd minute he made a leaping fingertip save to put Vic Sandoval’s shot over the crossbar. Then in extra time he made a lunging kick save on Jose Gonzalez, before Manuel Rosales-Tisnardo headed the ensuing corner kick off the underside of the crossbar, and the game headed to sudden-death OT.
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