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The Black Hills students, however, didn’t have to decide which player they were going to swarm because in this case, it was the same player.
Senior goalkeeper Ivy Davison provided the needed offense and defense during a 1-0 (4-3 shootout) victory over the Mark Morris in semifinals of the District IV girls tournament at Tumwater District Stadium on Tuesday night. She turned away two Monarchs shots before kicking in the game-winner to advance the Wolves to the Class 2A state tournament for the third consecutive season.
“I knew it was going to go in. I could just feel it,” said Davison about her shootout goal. “Right when it left my foot, I could see the goalie jumping the other way. I knew it was going to be good.”
Black Hills (15-2) advances to play Chehalis in the district championship match at 7 p.m. Thursday at Tumwater.
The Wolves, champions of the Evergreen Conference, have won seven consecutive matches since losing to the Bearcats, 1-0, on Oct. 6.
Davison and the Black Hills defense have been outstanding since the defeat, shutting out all seven opponents.
“That loss definitely refocused us,” said Davison, who has a school-record 13 shutouts this season. “Defensively, I just have incredible players around me who make my job easy.”
Alli Thompson, Nina Linder and Emma Hay also scored during the shootout for the Wolves, the defending district champion.
After surrendering goals on the first two Mark Morris attempts, Davison turned away Shilah Nickerson’s shot, leaving the shootout tied at two goals apiece.
Jenna Dukovcic gave Mark Morris (14-3-1) a brief 3-2 advantage before Hay knotted things up again.
On the Monarchs’ fifth attempt, Maranda Bolton’s shot hit the left post, giving the Wolves a chance to put the game away, which Davison did.
“She’s just an amazing player,” Black Hills coach Lisa Summers said. “She’s a big reason why we are here.”
The teams traded chances during the opening 40 minutes, but neither squad was able to score and went into halftime scoreless.
Black Hills had a trio of corner kicks in the first half – the first coming in the ninth minute and provided the Wolves with their best first-half scoring opportunity when Hay’s header off the corner kick was wide right, missing by a mere 2 feet.
Mark Morris senior goalkeeper Kaytlin Ingman punched away Arin Seidlitz’s other two corner kicks, preserving the scoreless tie.
The Monarchs upped their offensive pressure the final 15 minutes of the first half and nearly ended the scoreless tie in the 28th minute, when Jenna Dukovcic took a centering pass 10 yards in front of the goal and fired it towards the lower left corner of the net before a diving Davison deflected the ball away.
