Tumwater leads wire-to-wire to reach 2A State soccer tournament

Tumwater High School led from the third minute on its way to a 3-2 victory over Ridgefield in the Southwest District 4 Class 2A girls soccer tournament Tuesday night at Tumwater District Stadium, guaranteeing the Thunderbirds a state tournament berth.

Columbia River, a 1-0 winner over Hockinson, will play Tumwater for the district title at 7 p.m. Thursday at Tumwater District Stadium. Black Hills, a 3-0 winner over 2A EvCo rival Rochester earlier in the evening, will meet Ridgefield at 5 p.m. in a loser-out game.

“The kids were charging in there offensively, once we saw how they were lined up,” T-Birds coach Brett Bartlett said. “They moved their best player back into the defense because they were afraid of our speed.”

The T-Birds scored quickly, using their speed to create a third-minute mistake by the Spudders and take a 1-0 lead. Rilee Stillings’ shot at the end of a short run was mishandled by Ridgefield goalkeeper Ellie McCann, and Isabella Foos tapped the rebound into the net.

Neither team got many opportunities in the first half, but things heated up in the second.

In the 42nd minute, Devon Hess delivered a long pass ahead to Foos, who went 1-on-1 with McCann and finished from 15 yards out to put Tumwater up 2-0. Four minutes later, though, Ridgefield’s Taryn Ries scored from short range to again make it a one-goal match.

Tumwater got its two-goal advantage back in the 56th minute when Mikayla Kee sent a ball ahead to Stillings on the left wing, and she banged a long shot in off the right post.

But Ridgefield wasn’t to be put away easily. In the 65th minute, Annika Farley blasted a shot from 45 yards out that found the back of the net, making the final 15 minutes tense for Tumwater. Ries had a final shot to tie it with a free kick 30 seconds from the end, but she sent it wide left.

“Our defensive line played well,” Bartlett said. “They’ve been solid all year and they came up big tonight. All of them. Devon, Hallie Bergford, Sierra Snyder, Kayse Smack. Our defense midfielder, Jesy Chartrey was big tonight, too.”

Tumwater met Columbia River (14-3-1) several times over the years in nonconference games when the Chieftains were a 3A school.

“They’ve got a very good forward who plays with some pace,” Bartlett said. “They’re good in the air.”

At Black Hills 3, Rochester 0: The Wolves (14-4) got two goals from Sydney Lowe and one from Megan Lowe to advance past the Warriors (5-10-3). Emma Lindsay and Rachel Reuel had assists.

At Elma 8, La Conner 4: Brooke Sutherby led the Eagles with a hat trick in their win over the Braves. Two of Elma’s six goals in the first half came from Sutherby. The sophomore midfielder completed the hat trick in the second half. King’s Way Christian hosts Elma in the 1A Southwest District semifinals at 7 p.m. Thursday.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 10:01 PM with the headline "Tumwater leads wire-to-wire to reach 2A State soccer tournament."