Over the last three years, Issaquah junior girls’ soccer star Kate Deines has been a lethal weapon for the Eagles and a pain for opponents; Mount Si is no exception. The midfielder is arguably the best player her age on the entire Eastside and maybe one of the best on the entire West Coast. Once again last Tuesday, Oct. 24, Deines made her presence felt and it ruined a wonderful senior night for the Wildcats.
Deines’ goal, made in the first overtime, broke a 1-1 tie and lifted Issaquah to a 2-1 win over Mount Si that put the Wildcats’ title game hopes in peril.
The Eagles outplayed Mount Si throughout much of the contest, holding the Wildcats to very few offensive chances until late in the game. Issaquah’s effort was aided by officials, who didn’t call a single foul on the Eagles in regulation time, but called nearly a dozen on Mount Si during that same period, awarding Issaquah free kicks with every call. The continued pressure of the Eagles paid off in the 44th minute as Molly Gottlieb scored on a header off a corner kick to put Issaquah on the board.
Things turned dramatic late, as the Wildcats narrowly missed a couple of great scoring chances in the 77th minute. It didn’t stop Mariana Zanella, though. The junior forward kept working and it paid off soon after the first flurry. Zanella took a feed from Nikki Stanton and fired it home in the 79th minute past the Eagle goalkeeper, tying the game at 1-1 and sending many in the Mount Si crowd into absolute elation. It was her seventh goal of the year.
The game then went into overtime and Deines struck. She appeared wide open, picked off a rebound and rammed it home in the 82nd minute past one of six Mount Si seniors, goalie Jessica Blessard, and put Issaquah in front for good.
Prior to the game, the six Wildcat seniors were honored for their contributions to the program. They included Blessard, Jessica Oliver, Susan Nielson, Becky Wada, Monica Nelson and Amy Torget. Blessard will miss her time with the Wildcats greatly. “My four years at Mount Si have been just great. Actually, Mount Si soccer, I like that more than I do my club team just because it’s so fun and the team is all together and just the ladies all being like so encouraging to each other. I will definitely miss coach [Darren] Brown for sure because he’s been there for me, through middle school, too,” Blessard said.
Torget will also miss Mount Si for two reasons. “All the friendships that I’ve made over the years and the great soccer that we played as a team,” Torget said.
Mount Si coach Brown will miss his senior players. “They’re just a great bunch of girls. I love these guys, every one of them. Our seniors this year have been so, so incredibly awesome, always supportive of each other, always thinking of the team first and that’s what really creates so much success in our program,” Brown said.
With the Tuesday result and Skyline’s win that same night over Liberty, going into last Thursday, Oct. 26, the formula for success (and a title shot) for the Wildcats was simple: win at Newport and hope Bellevue could beat or tie the Spartans.
Mount Si did their part, but unfortunately Bellevue didn’t do theirs. The Wildcats used a pair of goals from Torget and a pair of assists from Jordyn Wilson, her first assists of the season, to take care of the Knights 3-1. However, Skyline scored a couple of first-half goals to beat Bellevue 2-0, handing the Spartans (11-3-2, 35 points) the No. 2 seed and a berth in the Kingco title game against the Eagles. Mount Si finished the regular season with an 11-4-1 mark, good for 34 points, and the No. 3 seed.
The Wildcats must win three loser-out games this week in order to reach state. They started it up Tuesday at home. If they win that game, they will play Thursday night at home. If they win that game, they will travel to Seattle to meet a Metro League team for the state berth Saturday.
