With the Kingco title locked up, the Mount Si girls’ soccer team played one last regular season game on Tuesday night, Oct. 28.
The goals were clear: To work on things that need improvement, audition some junior varsity players for the future, and keep the young athletes healthy. All of those were accomplished, and there was a bonus: one last point in the standings to close things out.
The Wildcats tied Sammamish 1-1, giving them a 6-0-1 closing stretch that resulted in an 8-2-2 league mark, 9-3-4 overall (26 points league/31 overall). They finished three points ahead of second place Liberty, who also had a great second half behind their freshman phenom Cassidy Nangle. Taylor Robbins scored the goal for the Wildcats. Mount Si also got great efforts from junior varsity callups Haley Chase and Rachel Finnegan, so look for those two to possibly make the state playoff roster for the Wildcats.
Last Wednesday night, Oct. 29, Mount Si received some good news, as they cleaned house in the Kingco postseason awards. The Wildcats received the triple crown of top honors. Senior Nikki Stanton received the league player of the year award, coach Darren Brown won coach of the year honors, and the team won the sportsmanship award. Stanton and fellow senior Jordyn Wilson won first team honors, while Laura Barnes, Marika Loudenback, Stephanie Burk and Brittany Conway landed on the league second team list. Ashley Davis and Victoria Falcon each received honorable mentions.
“I’m really excited,” said Wilson. “This has been my goal all year and it’s really rewarding for me. I have put a lot of hard work in, and my team helped me get there, too.”
“I was pleased,” said a thrilled Brown. “I always think there’s a lot of good coaches out there, and it’s a great honor.”
The coach was also pleased with Stanton earning her award.
“Nikki did a great job all season. I think she deserves that award,” Brown said.
Mount Si is now off until next week, when they host the first round of the state tournament. The Wildcats will be focusing on one key thing during their layoff.
“You’re not going to see much change as far as our formation goes,” Brown said. “What everyone’s going to see out there is really a more conditioned team than they’ve seen now, because that’s one of the areas we’re really focusing on.”
Brown has asked John Zanas, his strength and conditioning coach, to conduct a few more conditioning sessions with the team in order to get them in top shape for the first round game, since the opponent, whoever that is, is expected to be difficult.
“Every team is a good team,” Brown said. “Years past, there might have been a team that (would) get in that would just have cracked over .500. This year, you’re going to see everyone in the bracket with one (or) two losses.
“It’s going to be tough, but our goal is to win a state championship, and it’s feasible,” he added. “We just have to set the bar high and achieve it.”
