GIRLS PREP SOCCER
Elma 2, Hoquiam 1
A late goal on a direct kick from Jillian Bieker lifted the Elma Eagles over Hoquiam 2-1 at Olympic Stadium in Hoquiam on Thursday.
Elma (2-5-2 overall, 1-1 Evergreen 1A) generated seven shots on target in the first half and had most of their opportunities snuffed out by late-arriving defenders.
However, Elma’s Chloe Clark finally broke through in the 28th minute when she stole the ball from an Hoquiam defender, dribbled past the Grizzlies defense and beat keeper Katie Burnett with a shot just under the crossbar.
Elma held on to its 1-0 lead lead until the 60th minute when Hoquiam’s Emily Daniels tied the game. Daniels took advantage of a failed clearing attempt and ripped a shot on first touch that beat Paige Knutson as she dove to her left.
Elma head coach Evan Valentine said he was impressed with the increased intensity Hoquiam showed in the second half.
“Hoquiam picked up their game and worked a lot harder to give us a run for our money,” he said. “They forced us to to make some adjustments, but we should have put away more chances in the first half.”
The contest appeared to be headed toward overtime until Bieker’s aggressive play paid dividends when she drew a foul in the 78th minute.
Bieker took the free kick from just outside the box and sent a hard shot to the left of the wall to sneak the ball inside the post for the game winner.
Hoquiam head coach Drew Grannemann gave credit to Bieker for a well-placed shot, but was disappointed to see his team wait until the second half to elevate its level of play.
Grannemann said he sought to motivate his players going forward with an extended post-game talk.
“We talked about motivation and why we can’t find that motivation every single day. We talked about finding that consistency that we’re looking for. It’s a little bit of a different message, but hopefully it hits home and makes them think a little bit.”
Hoquiam will take a break from league play to face South Bend on the road at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Elma will face off against East County-rival Montesano in Elma on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Valentine said he has confidence in his team going forward as long as they can do a better job of finishing in close.
“The offense is headed in the right direction,” he said. “I like the opportunities that we produced, but we have to put more of them away.”
Montesano 10, Forks 0
Montesano got four goals from junior midfielder Brooke Streeter en route to a 10-0 thrashing of the Forks Spartans on Thursday at Spartan Stadium.
Monte (6-2, 2-0 Evergreen 1A) scored three goals in the four minutes of the game as Forks (0-6, 0-2) had no answer for the Bulldogs’ offensive onslaught.
Freshman midfielder Jaiden King opened the scoring off an assist from Anabelle Estrada in the first minute of the game followed by back-to-back unassisted goals from Streeter and senior forward Anna Ayres in the third minute.
Streeter scored again in the 13th minute, off another assist from Estrada, followed by an unassisted goal from sophomore Sierra Birdsall.
Streeter tallied her third goal in the 31st minute and completed her four-goal game when she scored off an assist from King eight minutes later.
Sophie Barre, Izabel Cope and Madolyn Olson all scored in the second half for Monte.
While the game against the winless Spartans didn’t figure to be a competitive one, Montesano head coach Fidel Sanchez used the opportunity to get his reserves valuable playing time.
“We let the starters play for about 20 minutes, then started using our sub,” he said. “We were working on moving the ball from one side to the other and training our center-mids to look for the open space and the open player.”
Montesano takes on rival Elma in the season’s first iteration of the East County Civil War at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Davis Field in Elma.
– Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Aberdeen 3, WF West 1
In perhaps their toughest test yet this season, the Aberdeen Bobcats made the most their opportunities to upend the previously-unbeaten WF West Bearcats 3-1 on Thursday at Stewart Field.
Locked in what Aberdeen head coach Larry Fleming said was “a very physical match,” the Bobcats broke through late in the first half when junior Brooklyn Lecomte collected a ball at midfield, beat her defender for a run up the sideline, cutback to the middle and blasted a shot past the WF West keeper for a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute.
The Bobcats (5-2, 2-0 Evergreen 2A) barely had time to catch their breath before scoring again approximately one minute later. Bradt sent a ball through to forward Emma Green, who beat the Bearcats keeper one-on-one to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead at the half.
Aberdeen’s swell of momentum continued after the break, as approximately five minutes into the second half Emmy Walsh was fouled just outside the 18-yard box, earning Aberdeen a dangerous direct-free kick opportunity. For the third time in the past two games, Bradt put the free kick into the back of the net for a 3-0 Aberdeen lead in the 46th minute.
WF West (5-1-1, 0-1) scored off a rebound 76th minute, but it was too little, too late as Aberdeen took the lead in the 2A Evergreen League standings.
“It was a great win for our program,” Fleming said. “We were able to handle a very good offensive team and pretty much shut them down the entire game. The girls played smart and at the same time very aggressively.”
The red-hot Bobcats look to extend their winning streak to four games when they take on Tumwater at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Tumwater District Stadium.
Aberdeen’s junior varsity team tied WF West JV 0-0 on Thursday.
WF West 0 1 – 1
Aberdeen 2 1 – 3
Top Players: Aberdeen — Lecomte (G, 37th minute); Green (G, 39th minute); Bradt (G, 46th minute, A)
– Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
COLLEGE SOCCER
Pierce 3, Grays Harbor 0
A tumultuous 24 hours for the Grays Harbor College women’s soccer program ended with a 3-0 loss at Pierce College on Thursday.
After former head coach Alan Carloza informed Grays Harbor administrators early Thursday he will soon be resigning from the position, the Chokers took the field with assistant head coach Allie Oropeza guiding the team after Carloza’s unexpected move.
With a roster just big enough to field a full team of 11 players, Grays Harbor quickly fell behind after Pierce forward Taeler Nilles scored an unassisted goal in the third minute.
Nilles followed with a goal off an assist from Allison Cunningham in the 12th minute and completed a hat trick after scoring a second-half goal in the 58th minute.
Grays Harbor (0-7-1, 0-5 NWAC West) managed just one shot on goal against Pierce (2-6-4, 1-3-4) while Chokers keeper Kristi Raffelson saved six of the nine shots she faced.
Next up for the Chokers is a game at Tacoma scheduled for 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Grays Harbor 0 0 — 0
Pierce 2 1 — 3
– Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
PREP VOLLEYBALL
Elma 3, Hoquiam 0
Elma’s Jalyn Sackrider was nearly unstoppable in Tuesday’s match at Hoquiam.
The senior middle blocker finished the match with 22 kills as the Eagles swept the Grizzlies 25-14, 25-11 and 25-9 to pick up the 3-0 victory.
Setter Ella Moore kept the Eagles’ offense running smoothly and picked up 30 assists to help the Eagles (6-2, 2-0 Evergreen 1A) to a 43-kill night.
Eagles head coach Kendra Dunn said her team had a good energy about them to start the match.
“Things were clicking and they were fired up and ready to play. It was only our second league game, so the girls came out with a lot of energy throughout the whole match. We kept a steadiness to us, which was nice.”
Elma celebrates after scoring the final point of a match against Hoquiam on Thursday in Hoquiam. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
Hoquiam (1-7, 0-2) had trouble getting into its offense on its side of the net, coming away with just 14 kills as a team.
Carsyn Munger was the leading scorer for the Grizzlies with seven kills.
Hoquiam head coach Heather Bozich said her team’s passing struggles derailed their game plan.
“We didn’t make (Elma) have to play anything. Our passing wasn’t great, so we had a hard time running an offense and that gave them a lot of free-ball opportunities,” she said. “They were able to run their offense really well. Elma has tough hitters, so if we aren’t being diligent and getting into our defensive positions, then it’s tough to play a ball.”
Elma will get another chance to tweak some things before getting back to playing league matches as the Eagles head to RA Long High School for the Lumberjill Invitational at 9 this morning.
Hoquiam’s next match comes on the road against Forks at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Elma 25 25 25 – 3
Hoquiam 14 11 9 – 0
Top Players: Elma – Sackrider (22 kills, 11 digs), Moore (30 assists); Hoquiam – Munger (7 kills)
Raymond 3, Pe Ell 0
Raymond got off to a good start in league play with a straight-set victory over Pe Ell in Raymond on Thursday.
Raymond (3-3, 1-0 Pacific 2B) got solid effort from Tina Sypaphay, who came through for seven kills. Sidney Swogger also scored key points with six aces and four kills to help the Seagulls down Pe Ell (1-4, 0-1),
Raymond head coach Bob Swogger said his team has been steadily improving before the Seagulls entered Thursday’s match.
“We had good ball control and ran the offense well. We have cut down on our free balls considerably over the last couple games and tournament last weekend,” he said. “Our serve receive had some issues once or twice, but the girls were able to work their way out of it.”
Raymond will head to South Bend for its next match at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ocosta 3, South Bend 0
The Ocosta Wildcats opened their 2B Pacific League schedule with a 25-5, 25-20 and 25-10 victory over the South Bend Indians on Thursday in Westport.
Ocosta (5-1, 1-0) was led by Layne Martin (6 kills, 9 digs, 15-15 service), Evalyn Marsh (9 digs) and Kiana Morrow (8 kills, 5 blocks).
South Bend (0-6, 0-1) was led by Hannah Jewell, who had 10 digs in the match.
“The scores speak to our inconsistency,” South Bend head coach Kelsey Staats said. “We started out slow and timid, but came together in Game 2. We can’t win a game if we only compete in one set, though.”
South Bend, which is still searching for its first win of the season, held an 83 service percentage as a team.
“On a positive note, we’ve improved in a lot of areas,” Staats said. “We just need to clean up some things.”
South Bend hosts Raymond at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Ocosta travels to Menlo to take on Willapa Valley at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
South Bend 5 20 10 — 0
Ocosta 25 25 25 — 3
Top Players: Ocosta — Martin (6 kills, 9 digs); Marsh (9 digs); Morrow (8 kills, 5 blocks). South Bend — Jewell (10 digs)
– Ryan Sparks, Grays Harbor News Group
Elma’s Jalyn Sackrider gets a kill in the third set of a match against Hoquiam on Thursday in Hoquiam. Sackrider has 22 kills in Eagles’ 3-0 victory over the Grizzlies. (Hasani Grayson | Grays Harbor News Group)
