District soccer roundup: Auburn Riverside grabs early momentum, wins 3A championship
Samiah Shell flew down the far left side of the field, beating her defender, lifting her head and firing the ball into the box in the early minutes of Auburn Riverside’s matchup against Peninsula in the 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict championship game at Mount Tahoma High School on Thursday night.
It looked like a cross attempt — a high, arching ball sailing across the face of the goal — but it never found a teammate. Instead, it hovered past the keeper’s outstretched hand, into the top right corner of the goal and into the side netting. Goal.
Auburn Riverside’s players ran over to Shell on the left sideline, jumping around and celebrating the stunning score. So was it a cross attempt or a shot?
“I was honestly looking to shoot it,” said Shell, a UW commit and the program’s career leading goal scorer. “It tends to be a cross sometimes, but I was shooting it trying to aim bottom back post. It ended up just hitting the outside of my foot, going up and curling in.”
We’ll take her word for it. A day prior, Shell and her teammates worked on similar back-post shots in practice.
“I noticed there wasn’t anyone in the box,” Shell said. “It was such a fast speed of play.”
Count Auburn Riverside coach Paul Lewis among those who felt it was a cross attempt at first glance.
“A cross shot, give-it-a-chance,” Lewis said.
A chance was all they needed. Once Auburn Riverside grabbed the early momentum in the rain-soaked game, the Ravens never gave it back, controlling the action throughout the game and limiting Peninsula’s chances in a 2-0 win.
“That kind of created a little bit of hunger,” Lewis said. “Sometimes when you play games where you don’t get on the board early, it kind of lingers and lingers and lingers and stunts us a little bit. It seems like when we get an early score, it tends to motivate us.
“The next 10 or 15 minutes, it was a lot of pressure we were able to put on, kind of taking that momentum and enthusiasm. It was a big deal, we’ve been talking about trying to score early more.”
Auburn Riverside added an insurance goal in the 64th minute off a corner kick. The ball rebounded to the foot of Emma Waletzko, who rocketed it in from close range to seal the win.
“Right when the corner was about to get taken, I heard Lewis yell, ‘Emma, act like you want it!’,” Waletzko said. “So I was there and it went right over my head and it just kind of rebounded and I smashed it as hard as I could so it would go in the goal.”
Auburn Riverside didn’t concede a single goal over three games in the bidistrict tournament, credit due to an organized back line and talented junior keeper Rory Murry.
“They all work really good together and it’s like, there’s no stress or doubt whether they’re going to try, put their bodies out there, sacrifice themselves to make sure that ball doesn’t hit the back of our net,” Shell said. “Rory is gonna put herself on the line.”
Auburn Riverside heads into the state tournament with a 17-1 record and figures to be one of the tournament’s top seeds.
“I’m super excited,” Shell said. “Especially for us too, because it’s our senior year. To make it count, especially with this group of girls who we all consider family, it’s just been really a big journey. I’m glad we’re all going in strong.”
CAMAS 1, CURTIS 0 (PK)
Curtis upset a pair of league rivals en route to Thursday night’s District 3/4 title game, but lost to Camas at Ingersoll Stadium after a scoreless draw led to penalty kicks.
A defensive battle led by Curtis’ back line — and a crucial late save by Vikings keeper Shaliyah Dupar — prevented any Papermaker attack for 80-plus minutes. Camas prevailed in an ensuing shootout, 4-3, securing the district title.
“Our back line is just playing lights out right now,” said Curtis coach Frank Hankel.
Still, the Vikings are off to state, which kicks off Nov. 18 at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup for 3A and 4A classifications.
No. 7 Curtis knocked off second-seeded Tahoma in the first round of the district tournament in shutout fashion, 1-0, on Oct. 29 to clinch a state berth. Then came an upset over third-ranked Olympia three days later in the district semifinals, 2-1.
“Last week, we beat Sumner, we beat Tahoma, and we beat Olympia. And those, according at RPI, were all top-10 teams,” Hankel said. “These girls are playing with the top 10 RPI teams in the state right now. Ideally, I hope that translates into a single-digit seed for the girls, because they deserve it.”
TUMWATER 2, COLUMBIA RIVER 1
The last time the T-Birds and the Rapids met in the District 4 2A championship was in 2016, where Columbia River came away with the 2-1 win.
Even though the score remained the same, it was Tumwater who came away with the district crown thanks to their speedy offense and quick adjustments on defense.
“In our last game against Ridgefield, we got into situations where we didn’t communicate,” said coach Brett Bartlett. “We solved those problems and then understood what to do. It was critical because we made those adjustments that helped us get the win in this game. It’s great to see that come from this coachable group, sort of like fixing it on the fly. It’s how the kids take care of the family; they take ownership, it’s their work and it’s important to them.”
Columbia River got on the board first in the 25th minute when junior Paige Johnson netted the first goal. However, one of the T-Bird’s biggest strengths is that they are excellent on the counter. And counter, they did.
With the Rapids in possession deep in the Tumwater side of the field, the T-Birds cleared out a free kick that landed by sophomore Emalyn Shaffer. With her speed, Shaffer was able to take on almost the entire Rapid defense and get a clear shot off on the goal. The equalizer hit the back of the net after clearing the hands of the Columbia River keeper in the upper part of the net in the 32nd minute.
The other Tumwater goal again had Shaffer’s footprints on it, but in a different way this time. The Rapids had a corner kick that again got cleared out by the T-Birds. Because there were so many Columbia River players playing up, Shaffer was again able to get a good shot on goal.
As the defense was drawn to Shaffer, sophomore Ava Jones was in the right place at the right time. Shaffer’s shot ricocheted off of the keeper and allowed Jones to tap in the go-ahead goal in the 78th minute.
Jones’ goal sealed the deal and the T-Birds advanced to state as district champions.
SATURDAY (NOVEMBER 5)
FIFE 3, ENUMCLAW 1
With their 3-1 win over the Hornets, the Trojans secured their spot as back-to-back champions in the District 2/3 2A tournament.
Through the three games they played, Fife scored 11 goals. The Trojans like to play fast with the speed they have built on their roster, and push their players up field. However against Enumclaw, and the wind in their faces, it was more of a challenge in this game.
“We have a lot of speed up top, our midfield is able to find positions up field,” said coach Ryann Waldman. “Enumclaw has challenged us. They had the wind at their backs, so they pushed hard against our defense. We scored with three minutes to go in the first half however. That completely shifted the momentum. And within the first two minutes of the second half, we scored again.”
The first goal came off the foot of senior Alanna Funtanilla in the 35th minute of the match. Breaking the 0-0 stalemate, Funtanilla shifted the momentum towards the Trojans heading into halftime.
The scoring didn’t take long to pick up because just two minutes into the second half, Fife scored again off a junior Peyton Holle goal. Despite being up 2-0, the Trojans did not stop attacking and refused to shift out of that formation.
“Enumclaw kept trying to push with so many bodies up top, so we brought an extra body back to help defend,” Waldman said. “It’s been our goal to win state since our last game last year. We won districts last year but nobody had any experience playing in the state tournament. This year we have experience and they are looking forward to what they can do in state.”
Fife would score one more time in the 70th minute, again off the foot of Funtanilla.
