BURIEN — Teanna Clark curled a corner kick into goal in the 63rd minute and Port Angeles held on against Highline 2-1 in a Class 2A Bi-District Girls Soccer Tournament loser-out match Thursday night at Highline Stadium.
The No. 9-seeded Roughriders (10-6) stayed alive for a state tournament berth with the win and will face No. 4-seed Enumclaw today in another loser-out contest at the Enumclaw Expo Center’s Pete’s Pool at 2 p.m.
“Teanna, who has been dominating on set pieces for us, scored the eventual winner,” coach Dan Horton said.
“She started screaming and celebrating and from my angle I thought she put it behind the goal. And then you see the goalkeeper move and the ball hit the side of the net. Teanna knew right away. She had one earlier in the season where she bent it in off the keeper. Her play on set pieces has been one of our keys to success. She’s made it her job.”
The play is rarely made at any level of soccer and is called an Olimpico, a goal that is scored directly from a corner kick. The name has stuck for nearly 100 years, since Argentina’s Cesareo Onzari scored against reigning Olympic champions Uruguay from a corner kick in 1924, although not in an Olympic contest.
Port Angeles held on over the final 20 minutes of play, withstanding a long injury break to tend to a Highline player at the end of the contest.
“The ref stopped the clock at 2 minutes left, and said as as soon as the whistle blows we will play 10 minutes of regulation,” Horton said.
“As soon as we got going, they transitioned and had a scary breakaway with the ball at their feet. Pyper Alton made a good run to catch up with her and I think that presence of Pyper in her hip pocker got her enough out of her comfort zone to miss the shot. It was an impressive play by Pyper.
“It definitely had us holding our breath and letting out a sigh of relief. That was the shock we needed and we maintained possession for the most of the rest of the game.”
Port Angeles opened the contest with a score inside of the first minute of play by Kedryn Descala.
“We scored in the first 20 seconds, not typical Port Angeles soccer this year,” Horton said.
“[Highline] took the opening kick and immediately played the ball directly back up the middle of the field. We pressed up, forced an immediate turnover, and we were able to play the ball out wide to Izzy and she whipped it back into the box, landed in a great position right at Kedryn’s feet and she put it right in the back of the net.”
An own goal on Port Angeles knotted the game at 1-all in the 19th minute.
“It was a really great defensive effort that turned unlucky,” Horton said. “We were in good position, there was a bad deflection and it trickled away from us.”
Horton said the Riders were in control for much of the second half.
“We got into a groove, connecting passes foot to foot, spreading out and making them cover more field and it was rare and short lived if they got the ball on our side of the field,” Horton said.
Fife 4, Sequim 0
FIFE —The Wolves (12-4) couldn’t find a groove against the unbeaten Trojans in their Class 2A Bi-District semifinal contest Thursday.
Sequim will face Sammamish today at noon in a third/fourth-place match.
Both teams already sealed state tournament berths with wins earlier in the week.
Tri-District Volleyball
MOUNT VERNON — Neah Bay won the Class 1B Tri-District Volleyball Tournament championship with a 25-11, 25-18, 25-19 sweep of Orcas Island on Thursday. The Red Devils (19-0) are rated No. 1 in the WIAA RPI and will open the state tournament on Wednesday at the Yakima SunDome.
