One goal, one step closer: Huskies advance at districts
· Yahoo Sports
Oct. 29—EPHRATA — The Othello Huskies (6-7) overcame the Ephrata Tigers (5-8-2) 1-0 in the second round of the District 5 2A Girls Soccer tournament on Tuesday. Huskies Head Coach Victor Quiroz was ecstatic after the win.
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"It's a gritty win, and that's what it is in the playoffs," said the Huskies coach. "I told my girls it's going to take one goal, because it's going to be one of those games. We played them twice already, and they've always been tough. The girls battled; we got opportunities there in that second half too; couldn't capitalize, but hey, a win's a win."
After an initial tug of war for possession of the ball, the Huskies put the Tigers on their heels with an aggressive attack. Within the first few minutes, Ephrata goalkeeper Aiyana Valle made several saves.
However, as the pressure mounted, the Huskies' Aaliyah Van Cleve found a gap in the Tigers defense to tap the ball into scoring position for Paisley Sly to finish with a goal. From there, the Huskies continued to control the ball for the remainder of the first half.
In the second half, the Tigers started to find ways to advance their own attack and take shots on goal and keeping Huskies goalkeeper JoJo Hernandez-Guevara honest. Despite a near miss in the final minutes of the game, Othello was able to hold off a comeback bid by the Tigers to seal the win and advance one game closer to the state tournament.
"I told them at the beginning of the game we're going to win this game when we possess the ball majority of the game," Quiroz said. "That's what our main goal is. That's what we did at practice today, just focused on that. Possess, possess, possess and look for opportunities. The opportunity came in that first half, and we were able to capitalize."
Ahead of the district tournament, Quiroz emphasized the importance of winning in the midfield. The Huskies were able to do that on Tuesday, rarely allowing the Tigers to advance their attack past midfield in the first half.
The coach praised Abbie Sorenson, Khloe Valdez and Abcde Garza for their execution in that part of the field.
"Abbie, Khloe, and Abcde have been dominating all season, and that's where our bread and butter is," he said. "That's where most of our attack comes from. If they possess there, they're the ones that are looking for the wings. They're the ones that are looking for the run for the strikers. They're the ones that get the team to move, super proud of them. They played really well today."
Though they held the lead well throughout the game, it was in the final minutes the entire momentum of the game could have shifted. After a shot on goal, the official called a penalty on the Huskies goalkeeper for picking up and dropping the ball, which set the ball up for Ephrata right in front of the net. However, with a stiff wall formed by Othello, they were able to boot the ball away and preserve their lead.
Though he did not see the call the same way, Quiroz was proud of his players for standing tall on defense in an intense moment of the game.
"The grittiness, man, we preached this all week, 'You guys are so close to going to state.' You can smell it. You just got to win it, and today they did it," said the coach.
For the Tigers, this brings a bittersweet conclusion to their season. After a rocky start, Head Coach Gary Klepec and his team battled their way back to the third seed in the district tournament.
"It's a pretty tough way to lose at home," Klepec said. "We had a good year. This is a really good group, and it's hard to move on to the next group. Third is one of our best finishes ever, for as long as I've been coaching, and so it's really hard to get to that spot. Didn't quite pull it out, but we had a great year."
With the conclusion of their season, the Tigers also now say goodbye to seniors McKinnley Graaf, Maddy Kellams, Brooklyn Sieverkropp and Megan Truscott. Still reeling from the loss, a somewhat emotional Klepec expressed what this senior class meant to the program.
"They've been everything. I've coached nine years now, but this group of seniors has been a huge part of the (last) four years, and it's just hard to express how important they are to me. It's always tough," he said.
For the Huskies, they look ahead to Saturday when they travel to play the first-seeded Ellensburg Bulldogs at noon. If they're victorious, not only does Othello carve out their place in the district championship, but also their spot in the state tournament.
"Ellensburg is tough, we haven't been in this position in a long time," Quiroz said. "To be there with these girls, it's going to be special. And we played them once already, man. They're (one of) the top teams in the CWAC."
The two teams have met before, with the Huskies coming out on top 2-1 in September. Since then, the Bulldogs have been on a tear, stringing together an eight-game win streak. For the Huskies, it's important they stick to what get them this far, he said.
"We've just got to play like we did today, the grittiness, and just be able to finish because today we had opportunities, and we've got to clean that up," he said. "We can get to where we want to be, and at the beginning of the year, their goal was to get to state. They're one step closer to that."
BOX SCORE:
OTHL: 1-0: 1
EPHT: 0-0: 0