Cougars step up to playoff challenge

by Meg Wochnick | The Olympian • Published May 13, 2008

OLYMPIA - The drought is over.

For the first time since 1996, the Capital Cougars boys soccer team is playing well past the second week of May. After Saturday's thrilling 3-2 win over White River in the district tournament, Capital is in the state playoffs.

The Cougars will host Bainbridge in the first round of the Class 3A state playoffs tonight at 7 p.m. at Ingersoll Stadium. The winner will face the winner of Mount Rainier/Lakeside in Saturday's quarterfinals.

"It's definitely a nice feeling," Capital assistant coach Patrick Hutnik said. "These guys are a young team, but they work so hard. A lot of the players play at a high level."

"Everyone's pretty excited for us," sweeper Stefan Wheat said. "It seems like kind of a culmination of all the hard work we've been doing. This is kind of paying off."

Capital is one of five South Sound boys soccer teams who are playing in the first round of the state tournament in their respective classifications. The other games today include Centralia at Cedarcrest, 6 p.m., Olympia at Juanita, 7 p.m., Yelm at Mount Vernon, 7 p.m., and Black Hills will host Sehome at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Tumwater District Stadium.

The youthful Cougars (11-6) have now won back-to-back Western Cascade Conference titles and improved their league win total by three to 10-2, one game ahead of Yelm.

The majority of the Cougars are underclassman -- seven sophomores and five freshmen, to be exact -- but don't let the youth fool you.

Capital has scored 36 goals, including a season-high 10 goals in a 10-1 win over Shelton. Instead of one go-to players, the Cougars have multiple scoring threats including Jeffrey Tran (11 goals), Gabriele Zaccagnini (nine) and Tri Nguyen (eight).

"Everyone's excited (about state)," Zaccagnini said. "(Winning our district game) was big, since last year we lost. We knew we wanted to win. Our team is very skillful. Everyone contributes to all the wins."

"It's been exciting to see who's going to step up every game," Hutnik said.

"Everyone does their part. The young guys learned we have a target on our back and we have to play at that level every game. It's someone different who steps up."

Case in point came Saturday, when freshman Brandon Lamb, who has only started a handful of games, scored the game-winning goal with 12 minutes left. That was Lamb's third goal on the season.

In their last state appearance, the Cougars lost to O'Dea 6-0 in the first round in '96. The Cougars' lone place at state was their first state berth in 1988, when they finished third.

Wheat, one of four seniors on the Capital team, said with all the young players, he never doubted the potential success the Cougars could have this season. Their versatility and strong balance from numerous players could be the difference in tonight's game against Bainbridge.

"They're all really talented guys and all really mature to handle the pressure," Wheat said. We a young team, but we can stick with almost any other team in the state."