FORKS — The Forks boys soccer team rallied from deficits twice to get past Winlock 5-4 in its District 4 2B tournament thriller, not only staying alive in the postseason, but getting within one game of the state tournament.
Forks battled back from a 3-2 deficit and a 4-3 deficit to win the game in the final moments.
“It was pretty intense,” said coach Ismael Ramos.
With the victory, the Spartans move on to play a third-round district playoff game versus Columbia-White Salmon at Seton Catholic High School in Vancouver at 5 p.m. today. If the Spartans lose, their season is over. If they win, they qualify for state.
Jesus Garcia-Dominguez had a hat trick and Ethan Bello scored a critical goal in the final minutes to tie the game at 4-4.
Forks got off to a fast start with a Garcia-Dominguez goal in the first couple of minutes. He scored a second goal in the 20th minute to give Forks a 2-0 lead.
“We played well in the first half. We lost our resolve a little bit in the second,” Ramos said.
Winlock recovered to score a goal just before the end of the first half. The Cardinals scored on a header off a corner kick to make it 2-2, then scored after a throw-in to take a 3-2 lead.
Garcia-Dominguez scored his third goal to make it 3-3, but then Winlock caught a break by earning a penalty kick.
Forks goalkeeper Hector Garcia-Dominguez actually stopped the penalty kick, but the Cardinals were able to pounce on the rebound to score, Ramos said.
Ramos said the Winlock coach decided to hold his team back in the defensive end to protect the lead.
“My guys said ‘let’s get this done,’” Ramos said.
The Spartans were able to put a lot of pressure in the offensive end and Ethan Bellows was able to score “on a beautiful volley,” Ramos said.
After all that drama, the game almost ended anti-climatically with a Winlock defender accidentally kicking the ball past his goalkeeper for an own goal to give Forks a 5-4 lead in the final moments of the game.
Sequim 3, Franklin Pierce 2
TACOMA — The Sequim boys soccer team scored a golden goal in double overtime, literally seconds away from dreaded penalty kicks to move to the semifinals of the bi-district tournament.
With the dramatic victory, the Wolves also qualified for the state 2A tournament. From now on, all their district games are for seeding.
The Wolves got off to a hot start, taking a 2-0 lead early in the first half. Sequim scored its first goal on a “thundering header into the back of the net” from Aidan Henninger, said coach Ken Garling.
Brandon Wagner scored the Wolves’ second goal on a shot from 30 yards out. The ball glanced off a Franklin Pierce player and went in.
In the second half, “Franklin Pierce just unloaded pressure on us. We started making mistakes. Credit to them, they just took it to us.”
Franklin Pierce scored a pair of goals to tie the match at 2-2 in the 67th minute. “Our boys started to settle in” after that, Garling said.
The game went to overtime. Late in the second overtime, the Sequim coaches were already working on picking who to kick the Wolves’ penalty kicks, Garling said.
With seconds left, the Wolves were able to get a deep throw-in. Wagner got the ball to defender Javier Gomez. “Javier made a diagonal run and saw an opportunity. He was able to get a low shot off that glanced off a Franklin Pierce player and in,” Garling said.
Sequim next plays in the bi-district semifinals against Clover Park at 7 p.m. today on the road.
Girls Tennis
POULSBO — The Sequim doubles tennis team of Jordan Hegtvedt/Mallory Morey and singles player Kendall Hastings all finished second at the Olympic League championship tournament this week and will be moving on to the bi-district tournament that begins May 19 in Bremerton.
Hegtvedt/Morey and Hastings won three straight matches to qualify for their championship matches. Hegtvedt and Morey lost to an Olympic duo, Kaiya Moore and Clair Caldwell 6-1, 6-3 in the championship, while Hastings lost to Teegan DeVries of North Kitsap 6-0, 6-3.
