SNOQUALMIE – For Mount Si’s Jordan Tipton, it was a birthday celebration that she won’t soon forget.
Last Tuesday night, the Wildcat senior defender scored the game’s lone goal on her birthday, as the Mount Si girls soccer team knocked Mercer Island out of the postseason with a 1-0 win in the first round of the Kingco 3A playoffs.
“Two years ago on my birthday, we played a game exactly like this, and it feels amazing to score the only goal on the team that we have wanted to kick out [of the playoffs] for so long. It’s really exciting,” said Tipton, whose 53rd-minute goal came off a feed from Mariana Zanella. The goal ended a 233-minute streak of futility for the Wildcats against MI this season; the two teams played to 0-0 ties in both games during the regular season.
Zanella was confident in her teammate’s ability to close the deal.
“We all needed that goal. It was bound to come because we just kept drilling it on them, and Jordan’s awesome and I just saw her open, and I was like, ‘You know what? She’s going to finish this,'” Zanella said.
Things got interesting in the last few minutes as Mercer Island got great penetration in the offensive zone and a few excellent chances to score. Mount Si coach Darren Brown, though, was not concerned.
“I pulled Jo [Tipton] back on defense. We switched formations from a 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2. I wanted to be safe and I know pushing Jo back there -with her speed- that no one’s going to get by our ‘Iron Curtain.’ They couldn’t penetrate through that,” Brown said, referring to his defense. “I have full confidence in my back line.”
With everything on the line, Wildcats get it done
With Issaquah doubling up Bellevue 4-2 to win the Kingco title last Tuesday, it was off to the Wolverines’ den for all the marbles last Thursday. The Wildcats didn’t disappoint and grabbed a berth to the state tournament in dramatic fashion with a 2-1 overtime win.
Mount Si got on the board first; Jessica Oliver took a pass from Nikki Stanton and chipped it in over Bellevue goalkeeper Emily Evanson in the 28th minute. The Wildcats maintained their early 1-0 advantage until a defensive breakdown left goalkeeper Jessica Blessard all alone against the Wolverines’ Christine Jones in the 54th minute, and despite Blessard’s best efforts, Jones made no mistake and fired a shot into an empty Mount Si net to tie the game. The game remained tied into overtime, then the tone changed.
Early in OT, Zanella’s tough season got tougher as she was carried off with an ankle injury, but Mount Si went back to work. In the 88th minute of OT, the seniors got the job done again for the second straight game as Collette Hatch took a pass from the week’s other senior hero, Tipton, and punched a ball into the net past Evanson, giving the Wildcats the lead.
“I just knew Jordan was going to get to me. I could tell, and I just made the run,” Hatch said.
Things got interesting right after, when referees gave Bellevue a penalty shot. The shot was the climax of a busy night. Almost 40 free kicks were awarded to the two teams and four yellow cards were assessed, three of which went to Wolverine players.
There was a pause and anxiousness on both sides of the field. For Bellevue, the shot was going to decide a season; for Mount Si, it was going to decide a state berth. The shot missed wide right, and a huge roar went up from the Wildcat side of the field that only got louder as the final whistle sounded. For the first time since 1995, Mount Si girls soccer had qualified for state.
Previewing the first round
The Wildcats will play the Shorecrest Scots in round one of the WIAA 3A girls soccer playoffs this week. The game time is 7 p.m, at Shoreline Stadium. Shorecrest is the No. 2 seed in the Northwest District, out of the Wesco Conference. The Scots fell to Mount Si’s Valley rival Cedarcrest in the district championship game. Red Wolves coach Robert Johnson said in an e-mail that fans can expect a good match up. According to Johnson, Shorecrest employs a pair of offensive threats in midfielder Casey Maehl, and forward Sylvia Olsby.
Johnson also said that the Scots’ goalkeeper, Caroline Towles, likes to challenge opposing offenses. With Mount Si’s multiple offensive options, that could be an advantage for the Wildcats if Shorecrest’s defense, led by Brianna Robinson, doesn’t step up.
Two factors, however, may work against Mount Si. First, Shorecrest’s league prepared them well for this challenge; the Scots are one of just a couple of 3A teams in a predominately strong 4A conference. Second, the Wildcats have not won a game at state since 1988. Overall, in three previous state tournament appearances (1988, 1994 and 1995), the Wildcats are 1-3.
If Mount Si wins, their second round game would be at home.
