UPDATE: Information added for Montesano-Tenino quarterfinal matchup. The game will be played at 6 p.m. Saturday in Tenino.
Montesano began its quest for state-tournament glory in grand fashion, scoring twice in the second half to defeat Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls 3-1 on Wednesday in a 1A State Girls Soccer Tournament game at Jack Rottle Field in Montesano.
Montesano (16-2 overall) quickly removed the bad taste from last week’s district-final loss to La Center out of its mouth by doing what it failed to do in that game: Get off to a good start.
The Bulldogs scored on its very first possession of the game. Montesano sophomore midfielder Bethanie Henderson took possession in Monte’s end and sent a ball forward to senior midfielder Jaiden Morrison.
Morrison and sophomore midfielder/forward Mikalya Stanfield then worked a little magic together. Morrison fed Monte’s leading goal-scorer, who then quickly got the ball back to the speedy winger on the edge, allowing Morrison to make one of her patented sideline runs.
Nearing the Eagles back line, Morrison sent a cross toward Stanfield, who punched it home for a 1-0 lead with just under 30 seconds of game time elapsed.
“I think it helped our team out a lot, knowing that we had a chance to do good,” Morrison said of Monte’s early goal. “We usually do better in the second half, so it gave our whole team that confidence that we were going to do good in the first half.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Jaiden Morrison looks upfield while being defended by Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls’ Ayanna Tobeck during the Bulldogs’ 3-1 victory in the 1A State Girls Soccer Tournament on Wednesday in Montesano. Morrison figured into all three Monte goals, scoring twice and assisting on two others.
But after the Bulldogs’ early strike, Lakeside showed why they earned a spot in the state tournament.
The Eagles (13-6), which finished second in the Northeast League behind No. 3 Deer Park, played a solid midfield game that held Monte in its own end for much of the first half.
Montesano’s defense held firm against Lakeside’s pressure until a direct free kick from talented Eagles midfielder Abigail McLellan was perfectly placed in front of the Bulldogs goal line. Monte goal keeper Riley Timmons made the save, but the ball bounced out for a rebound, was kicked toward goal. A Bulldogs defender got a foot on the ball in a last-ditch clearance attempt, but the ball trickled acrsoss the goal line for an own goal, tying the game at 1-1 in the 37th minute.
Facing a quality opponent in a tie game in the state tournament, Montesano came up clutch in the second half.
The Bulldogs flipped the script over the final 40 minutes, controlling the pitch by forgoing its pass-possession style of gameplay and pushing the ball wide and forward to relieve Lakeside’s midfield pressure.
The strategy paid dividends in the second half as the Bulldogs started to see shots and scoring chances pile up.
Morrison and Montesano midfielder Paige Lisherness then decided it was time to cash in on one of those opportunities.
In the 48th minute, Morrison lined up for a corner kick and fed a floater a few yards in front of the Eagles’ net. Lisherness got her head on the ball, which got past Eagles keeper Kaylyn Randazzo and bounced into the net for a 2-1 Monte lead.
“I knew I had to get my job done,” said Lisherness, a 6-footer and two-time Evergreen League defensive MVP. “I saw the ball coming, prepared myself and just got the job done.”
“It was more like hope and pray that someone is going to get there,” Morrison said of her corner-kick strategy “The amount of excitement that goes through your body after you see the ball hit the net, it’s one of the best feelings ever.”
As time wound down, the Eagles began to play with an increased sense of urgency and pressed numbers forward.
Monte countered by moving Lisherness and Stanfield further back on defense to assist Monte’s back line of Madi Campbell, Emma Salazar and Sophie Kupka.
With the Bulldogs defense able to consistently clear out any nail-biting scoring chances the Eagles sent their way, Morrison — who has scored many an electrifying goal this season — decided it was time for one more.
Morrison dribbled through the middle of the Eagles half of the field, made a hard pivot right to create a shooting lane, then fired a shot to past a diving Randazzo for a 3-1 lead in the 76th minute.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Madi Campbell, left, Paige Lisherness, second from right, and Jaiden King, right, celebrate with teammate Jaiden Morrison after the senior forward scored a game-clinching goal in a 3-1 victory over Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls in a 1A State Girls Soccer Tournament first-round game on Wednesday in Montesano.
The jaw-dropping play sent a shockwave through Jack Rottle Field as Morrison stood momentarily stunned after realizing she just sealed a state-playoff victory for the Bulldogs.
“To be honest, I was just going to go to the corner,” Morrison said, noting that she was content at getting the ball further into the Lakeside end to eat up time. “I saw this little slot and I thought, ‘Well, if worse comes to worse, if I shoot and I miss, we try again. And if I make it, I make it.’ I took a leap of faith and shot it and it went in. … When it went in it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, it went my way.’ I was surprised.”
Monte rode out the final few minutes of the game and when the final whistle blew, the Bulldogs had earned a trip to the state quarterfinals for the first time since 2007.
Monte outshot Lakeside 13-6, with eight shots on goal to three for the Eagles.
After the game, Montesano head coach Fidel Sanchez told his team, “I really believe this team has a destiny this year. Let’s make it count.”
“This is the first time a team in Montesano has had such an incredible season and we have put things together that no other Montesano team has,” Sanchez said, noting Monte’s previous losses in the first round of the state tournament. “With the right seeding, everything is just kind of lining up for us. I really believe we are destined to be in the final four and we are going to work for that, we are going to go get that. … This is too good of a story to end too soon. … We can do things in this tournament and I want to make sure this team has some kind of history that when the seniors leave this program they’ll remember and say, ‘Hey, we were the team that beat that bad-luck streak of never getting out of the first round of the state tournament.”
“He’s been coaching for so long that it’s big words of encouragement for us,” said Lisherness of her coach’s postgame comments. “When we hear it, it makes us believe in ourselves even more.”
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano midfielder Paige Lisherness (8) defends against Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls midfielder Ayanna Tobek during Monte’s 3-1 state-playoff victory on Wednesday in Montesano.
Though he didn’t know it at the time, Sanchez’s words turned out to be somewhat prophetic as league-rival Tenino defeated the state’s No. 2 seed South Whidbey in a penalty-kick shootout on Wednesday evening.
Tenino — the tournament’s 15th seed — will play No. 7 Montesano in the quarterfinal round at 6 p.m. Saturday in Tenino, with the winner advancing to the semifinals Nov. 19 at Shoreline Stadium.
Montesano has defeated Tenino three times this season, including a 4-0 victory in the district semifinals last week.
As the Bulldogs put it, they are not quite ready to go home.
“We’ve worked so hard since summer, we are not going to give up now,” Lisherness said. “We are going to keep pushing and we want to finish with a big bang.”
No. 10 Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls 1 0 — 1
No. 7 Montesano 1 2 — 3
First half — 1, Montesano, Stanfield 31 (Morrison), 1st minute. 2, Lakeside, own goal, 37th minute.
Second half — 3, Montesano, Lisherness 7 (Morrison), 48th minute. 4, Montesano, Morrison 20, 76th minute.
RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Mikayla Stanfield is shielded by Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls midfielder Abigail McLellan (8) during Monte’s 3-1 victory in a state-playoff game on Wednesday at Jack Rottle Field.
