VANCOUVER — Montesano’s Anna Ayres made her first appearance in District IV 1A Tournament game count on Thursday.
The freshman was put into the game as a substitute late in the second half of the match between the Bulldogs and Seton Catholic at King’s Way Christian High School, but less than five minutes into her stint in the contest she had kicked the game winner for a 2-1 victory.
With the score tied 1-1 in the 70th minute, Ayres worked hard toward the end line before turning and firing a cross.
The ball hit off the leg of Cougar defender Lucy Mohammadi just enough to redirect it past the goalkeeper into the right side to lift the Bulldogs to the win.
“We brought in Anna Ayres because we wanted to give Samantha (Stanfield) a five-minute break, she put some pressure on the girl and got a nice cross and got a deflection goal that went in,” Montesano assistant coach Rick Denholm said. “We talk all the time that it is a team effort. It is not just individuals, it is a team effort and tonight the team effort paid off and we got the win.”
The win secures the Bulldogs a spot in the state field as one of the two top teams out of District IV. Montesano (12-3-2) moves on to face the host Knights in the district title game at 2 p.m. today at King’s Way.
The Bulldogs drew first blood on Thursday in the 12th minute when Cheyann Bartlett centered a pass to Stanfield. Stanfield settled the ball at the top of the box, made a quick turn and blasted a shot past the Seton goalkeeper.
The Cougars were able to create some pressure on Monte late in the first half and Seton tied the match up in the 34th minute on a shot by Kya Gere. Riley McDonough was able to sprint up the right side and place a cross in to Gere who sneaked the ball past Monte goalkeeper Haylee Perkinson.
A small formation change made a huge difference for the Bulldogs in the second half. Monte pulled a defender up into the midfield to try to possess the ball more and put pressure on the Cougars. The shift not only allowed Monte to keep Seton without a quality shot in the second half, but Ayres’ goal was another result.
“We had a little talk at halftime and they picked up the intensity in the second half,” Denholm said. “We didn’t want to stay back with four (defenders) and not get a goal and go into overtime so that’s when we went to three back and decided to push a little bit forward to get that goal and it paid off.”
