For the third straight season, Montesano opened the 1A State Girls Soccer Tournament with a victory at Jack Rottle Field, though it didn’t come easy.
The sixth-seeded Bulldogs beat No. 11 Bellevue Christian by outscoring the Vikings 4-1 in a penalty-kick shootout to advance to the state quarterfinals with a 2-1 win on Wednesday in Montesano.
Focused on putting together a better performance than Saturday’s uninspiring loss to La Center in the district-championship game, the Bulldogs (13-5-2 overall) attacked with more urgency and had better on-ball defense against the Vikings (11-5-1).
The game was back-and-forth throughout the first half, with the Bulldogs holding possession by playing down the sidelines with long throw-ins from the likes of junior midfielder Sam Roundtree with the Vikings looking to counter-attack with their quick and adept midfielders.
PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano midfielder Sam Roundtree (9) and Bellevue Christian’s Lucy Carrel compete for possession in a 1A State Tournament first-round game on Wednesday in Montesano.
Bellevue Christian broke the scoreless tie when midfielder Lucy Carrel dribbled through the Montesano defensive end, maintained possession and fed a pass to sophomore midfielder McKenna Hall.
Hall turned and took a dribble to her left, took a touch to create space and ripped a shot into the top far-corner of the net from the top of the goal box for a 1-0 lead in the 34th minute.
Montesano responded just a few minutes later when star senior midfielder Bethanie Henderson took a free kick from 25-yards out and, as she has done all season, made it count.
Arguably the Bulldogs’ most clutch player, Henderson bent in a left-footed shot that Vikings keeper Abbie Nienaber jumped up and got both hands on, but not enough to keep the ball out as it bounced off her hands and across the line for a goal in the 37th minute.
“She’s the (1A Evergreen League’s) Offensive Player of the Year for a reason,” Monte head coach Fidel Sanchez said of Henderson. “She scores a lot. … She’s a great player and does exactly what we need her to do.”
Tied at 1-1 after the half, both teams had their chances over the final 40 minutes and two five-minute overtime periods.
Henderson sent two dangerous corners to the front of the box that the Vikings had trouble clearing in the first 10 minutes of the second half followed by a golden opportunity for Bellevue Christian’s Allison Eggers, who found herself inside the Monte 18-yard box with a clear shot at the net, but sailed it high and wide in the 53rd minute.
Henderson figured into a few more Monte scoring chances late in the game, missing another goal just over the bar on a free kick and sending a corner kick to the far post that was headed out of bounds by sophomore defender Izzy Taylor in stoppage time.
In the first overtime, Roundtree made a run down the sideline to the corner and sent a cross toward freshman forward Jaelyn Butterfield, who one-timed the ball into the net for what momentarily appeared to be the game-winning goal, but the score was disallowed as it was ruled Roundtree crossed over the back line before making the pass, leading to a goal kick.
Overtime ended with the game still tied 1-1 and headed into a win-or-go-home penalty-kick shootout.
PHOTO BY FOREST WORGUM Montesano midfielder Bethanie Henderson (22) defends against Bellevue Christian’s Lucy Carrel in a 1A State Tournament first-round game on Wednesday in Montesano.
Henderson started the shootout by placing a shot past Nienaber’s right side for a 1-0 lead.
Bellevue Christian’s Lucy Carrel followed with a shot that bounced off the right post.
Monte’s Mikayala Stanfield scored on a low shot to the right side of the net for a 2-0 advantage.
Hall put one in for the Vikings to make it 2-1 followed by another Monte conversion when junior midfielder Addi Kersker scored for a 3-1 lead.
Lila Naeseth sent her shot over the top right corner of the net, giving Montesano forward Adda Potts a chance to clinch the victory with a conversion.
Potts got the ball from the referee, placed it on the spot, took a few steps back and belted a shot over a leaping Nienaber to give Monte a 4-1 shootout win and advance the Bulldogs to the state quarterfinals for the third straight season.
“The ref said, ‘If you make this, it’s over,’ and I just wanted to win so bad,” Potts said of her game-winner. “I just needed to be calm. We work on them in practice. I just needed to do my thing and do it for my team.”
A roar came over the Montesano crowd as Potts turned and rushed toward her teammates to celebrate.
“I was just so happy,” she said. “I just wanted to win for my team and do it for my team.”
Monte keeper Riley Timmons made four saves in the game to earn the victory.
The Bulldogs had five shots in the game, three on target.
“It was a very good, even game. … We were able to have our defenders get the ball and play out the back, which was huge because I thought against La Center we were panicking too much and giving up too many balls,” Sanchez said. “Just keeping the ball a little longer and making things happen on the field with Mick (Mikayla Stanfield), Bethanie (Henderson) and Sam (Roundtree) gelling with the speed up top, we were able to do a lot of stuff.”
“We just fought really hard. We had that grit and we just wanted to win,” Potts said. “We don’t want our season to be over. We want to keep fighting.”
With the victory, Montesano advances to face No. 3 University Prep – which defeated No. 14 Kiona Benton 6-1 on Tuesday – in a 1A State quarterfinal game starting at 1 p.m. Friday at Sammamish High School.
Bellevue Christian 1 0 0 0 – 1
Montesano 1 0 0 0 – 2
(Montesano wins 4-1 on penalty kicks)
Scoring
First half – 1, Bellevue Christian, Hall (Carrel), 34th minute. 2, Montesano, Henderson, 37th minute.
Second half – None
Overtime – None
Penalty-kick shootout – Montesano 4 (Henderson G, M. Stanfield G, Kersker G, Potts G). Bellevue Christian (Carrel NG,Hall G, Naeseth NG)
