SNOQUALMIE – One and done. It was a tough way to end the season last Tuesday night for the Mount Si Wildcats boys soccer squad. Playing with an emergency goalkeeper and then the entire second half without their best player, the Wildcats fell to the Newport Knights 5-2 in the winner-to-state, loser-out Kingco Tournament boys soccer contest at Newport High School.
Mirza Memic, the Knights’ senior star forward, showed why he has been a star this season. He returned to action after a two-and-a-half- week layoff due to a serious ankle injury and pocketed four goals. Memic was pleased to be back on the field.
“I’ve just been anxious to get back on the field since I’ve been out for the past two-and-a-half weeks. So I don’t know, I just was ready to score some goals,” Memic said.
Mount Si sophomore Bryce Wermann started in the net in place of senior starting goalie Jeff Lewis, who was serving a one-game suspension for picking up a red card in the Wildcats’ 2-0 loss to Mercer Island in their final regular season game. For Wermann, things started out as badly as they possibly could, as Memic scored right away for Newport in the third minute.
“Well, we got the early goal and that really helped kind of take the pressure off a little,” said Knights coach Paul Mendes.
Mount Si’s Yosef Yetneberk answered right away, however, scoring a goal in the seventh minute to tie things at 1-1. It remained that way until the 38th minute when Yetneberk went down with a badly strained knee. Yetneberk did not return and looked to be in considerable pain on the sidelines in the second half while trying to walk the injury off. The Knights then went to work, scoring four unanswered goals.
Memic scored the first two, in the 43rd and 57th minutes. Then Newport senior midfielder Michael Ricci took a pass from junior teammate Dan Stochel and punched home the third of four in the 66th minute. Memic then wrapped up his stellar return with his fourth goal of the game, capping off the Knights’ goal-scoring outburst in the 69th minute.
Gibson Bardsley scored for Mount Si in the 75th minute, but by then it was way too late for a comeback. With Mercer Island’s team in attendance in the Mount Si section, the Knights, with their convincing victory over the Wildcats, had sent the Islanders a message about how difficult beating Newport was going to be in the Kingco championship game. The Knights proved that last Thursday by beating MI on the Islanders’ home field for the Kingco title, and in the process handing MI their first loss of the season.
Mendes said that the Yetneberk injury changed everything for his team.
“It was starting to shape up like a typical Mount Si-Newport game, kind of back and forth with us having our hands full watching Yosef [Yetneberk], and we were doing a fairly good job on him and I think when he had to come out with his injury, that kind of took a little pressure off our defense, and then our midfield really got going,” he said.
Wildcats coach Darren Brown praised Newport.
“They’re a good team. We played them tough all year long but it wasn’t our night. We had some things that didn’t go our way, but we had a great season. I’m proud of the guys,” Brown said.
Despite Yetneberk’s graduation and the loss of several other seniors, including Lewis and standout defender Colin Parsons, the future looks bright.
“We have a lot of young players and losing a few seniors and Yosef will hurt, but I’ll find a way to replace them. We have Kyle and Gibbie [Bardsley] up front and I have a strong keeper coming in, so we’ll be all right,” Brown said.
Yetneberk was named league Most Valuable Player, and made the first team list for Kingco 3A boys soccer in postseason awards released last week. Junior Dane Portscheller also made first team, while Bardsley made second team. Parsons, Evan Lloyd, Jace Derwin, Andrew Talevich and Chad Hennig all received honorable mention.
