State champs! Franklin Pierce beats Sehome for program’s first state soccer title

In every game Franklin Pierce’s boys soccer team has played in this season, the Cardinals have scored at least one goal.

So when Sammy Tafolla’s team went down 1-0 in the WIAA Class 2A boys soccer high school state championship game at Renton Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Tafolla wasn’t worried.

Sehome scored a goal in the 70th minute on a set piece. Just one minute later, Franklin Pierce found the equalizer. Cristian Herrera-Alavez’s free kick found the head of senior forward Malachi Chang, who headed the ball in for the game-tying goal, which forced overtime.

“Really clutch,” said Tafolla, reached by phone on Saturday. “When we got scored on, I knew they were gonna find a way to score. My thing with them is as long as they believe in themselves, they were gonna be able to do it. … It was in their DNA this season and they got it done.”

With the game still tied 1-1 after two overtime periods, the game went to a penalty kick shootout. Sehome missed its second attempt, while Franklin Pierce’s shot takers — Herrera-Alavez, Marvin Soeum, Pablo Ramos, Aaron Calvo-Guillen and Preston Soeum — all made their attempts, winning the game.

Tafolla subbed in his backup keeper, senior Miguel Domingo, for the penalty kick shootout.

“He likes to play mind games with the shooter,” Tafolla said. “Miguel did his thing.”

It’s the first state boys soccer championship in Franklin Pierce’s program history. The Cardinals have come close in recent years but have stalled in the quarterfinals.

“It was something being worked on the past three years after covid,” Tafolla said. “(Previous coach) Brandon Henry did a great job preparing them. It was a bit easier for me, because he had them all prepared.

“They had that chip on their shoulder. It was more so having that belief that they could do it. We were able to get them on board with believing they were very capable of winning a state championship.”