Prep roundup: Capital soccer back to form after lopsided loss to Aurbun Mountainview in district championship
Capital boys soccer’s lopsided loss to Auburn Mountainview stung.
After securing the Class 3A Narrows League title and an automatic state-tournament berth, the Cougars were on a roll. They had a five-game winning streak and a first-round shutout, 2-0, of Columbia River in the 3A West Central/Southwest district tournament.
The Lions brought all of that to a screeching halt this past Saturday, blanking Capital, 4-0, in the district championship game. Before that, the Cougars hadn’t lost a match since March.
“I think the guys took it in stride,” Capital coach Andrew Lopez said. “No one was down or out. It was an important game to us as far as a district championship game.
“But we had good perspective, because we knew it meant something on that day, but beyond that (the loss) didn’t impede or change what we’re trying to do.”
Lopez said Capital — which had three starters out of the lineup Saturday — is back to form for Tuesday’s first-round 3A state tournament game against Glacier Peak (15-4) at 7 p.m. at Ingersoll Stadium.
Two starting defenders and midfielder Scott Penner — Capital’s second leading goal scorer after Nigel El-Sokkary’s 28 goals and 22 assists — will return. Penner sat the majority of the game against the Lions with groin tightness.
“It was hard for us to keep that consistency we had going (with those players missing),” Lopez said.
Reestablishing that consistency will be key against Glacier Peak, which went undefeated in 3A/2A Wesco South play this season. Coincidentally, the Grizzlies also lost their championship game in districts Saturday against Edmonds-Woodway, 2-0 — also their first loss since March.
“They’re pretty good,” Lopez said. “They went 12-0 during league. They don’t really concede a lot of goals. It’s going to be a pretty tough game.”
Glacier Peak has posted 13 shutouts this season with the help of goalkeeper Sahm Noorfeshan — including 11 in a row between April 4 and May 7. The Grizzlies also average 3 1/2 goals per game.
“We know they like to play good soccer,” Lopez said. “They’re not just kicking the ball up the field. They try to play quality balls. We think they’ll match up stylistically similar to us.”
Softball
Yelm 9, Montesano 3: The Tornados powered their way over the Bulldogs thanks to an explosive second inning by Nicki Dehan.
Montesano made a pitching change that would ultimately favor Dehan and Ally Choate, the batter before her.
“We had some girls before (Dehan) have some good at-bats, some quality ones that drew walks,” said Yelm head coach Lindsay Walton. “[Then], they changed the pitcher right before Nicki got up to bat, and I thought this pitcher will be perfect for Ally and Nicki.”
With the bases loaded, Dehan launched a grand slam that went well over the fence and broke the game wide open in favor of Yelm.
Now it became Drea Schwaier and Tayelyn Cutler’s job to protect the lead as they combined to pitch seven innings and only give up three runs.
“(Schwaier) pitched a very good four innings, then we put in Cutler after and she also did well,” Walton said. “We were able to hold them to three (runs), which is good since they are a quality team that requires your ‘A’ game. We just got some really timely hits.”
Yelm’s offense continued to put up runs deep into the game as well, padding its lead and practicing the philosophy that coach Walton has instilled in her team: score every inning.
“We struggled in the past being able to score but we have hit that stride,” she said. “Our goal has been to score in every inning and we have been able to score in multiple innings as well.
“This game has given us a solid win and we will have some momentum back when we play again this Friday.”
Tumwater 11, Capital 0: For every hit and run that Tumwater High School earned in its 11-0 victory over Capital, Jocelyn Glasgo put up a strikeout.
Glasgo, a senior pitcher for the T-Birds, was dominant on the mound, throwing a one-hitter through all six innings that she pitched, striking out 11.
Leading the offensive charge was Alyvia Owen, who reached base in all four of her plate appearances plus driving in a run and scoring twice herself.
Also showing off some power was Kaylee Clarke, who went 2 for 3 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
The Cougars’ lone hit came from Rachel Wofford, as the rest of the team could not figure out Glasgo.
The T-Birds play Woodland in the first round of the 2A Southwest district tournament 4 p.m. Thursday at Borst Park in Centralia.
This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 9:47 PM with the headline "Prep roundup: Capital soccer back to form after lopsided loss to Aurbun Mountainview in district championship."