Wildcats score tie against Liberty; roll over Saints

SNOQUALMIE - The Mount Si Wildcat girls' soccer team tied the Liberty Patriots last Tuesday in what turned out to be a hard night of injuries for both teams.

SNOQUALMIE – The Mount Si Wildcat girls’ soccer team tied the Liberty Patriots last Tuesday in what turned out to be a hard night of injuries for both teams.

What could have been the big stories of the contest – physical play and contested officiating -were overshadowed by two players being helped off the field (one with her season in doubt), and both teams limping off the field with a 1-1 draw.

The first incidents occurred in the second half when Liberty lost star Kayla Gunderson in the 61st minute. The game was delayed for several minutes while trainers and coaches attended to her injury. Gunderson was carried off the field and according to Patriots coach Derek Heinz, the news may not be good.

“I’m sure it’s pretty bad because Kayla doesn’t cry, and when she was crying, we knew it was bad. So I’m kind of fearing the worst right now, and she’s the heart and soul of our team,” Heinz said.

If Gunderson is hurt as seriously as it appeared, she will likely miss the rest of the season, putting a potential fatal blow in Liberty’s chances for the playoffs. As of Friday, there was no official word on what exactly happened to their star player.

Then, in the 78th minute, Wildcat swing player Jordan Tipton collided with Patriot goalkeeper Courtney Young as the two went for a ball. Tipton was down for several minutes as well being attended to by trainers before she left the field under her own power. She was seen on the bench afterward with an ice pack on her right knee, having suffered a deep bruise, which was a relief to Mount Si coach Darren Brown.

“It’s not what I feared, which was an ACL tear,” Brown said.

Overall, the game was a physical one and the referees were kept very busy, except in the eyes of a lot of Mount Si observers. There were complaints about several missed calls that would have gone in favor of the Wildcats, and free kicks pro-Liberty. Still, said Brown, don’t blame the officiating for the tie.

“You can never point the finger at the referees, and we didn’t have a lot of calls go our way, but they missed a few as well on the other side,” Brown said. “We just didn’t finish like we should’ve, and that’s why the score ended up the way it was.”

Liberty’s goal came in the 29th minute. Halie Pentin took a corner kick from teammate Jenny Miller and punched it into the back of the net past Mount Si junior goalkeeper Jessica Blessard. The Wildcats had their chances, but were unable to convert any until the 62nd minute, when Amy Torget rammed it in at the end of a flurry of goal scoring opportunities.


Mount Si bests Interlake

It was all Mount Si last Thursday, as the Wildcats scored early and often against the hapless Interlake Saints. Interlake goalkeeper Sara Ostlund was no match for Mount Si’s firepower as seven different players scored goals in the 7-0 rout.

Mount Si fired 32 shots on goal for the entire match. The night was so good that Mount Si goalkeeper Blessard played much of the second half as forward and had at least three or four great scoring chances of her own.

“Back in camp, for my goalie training, they told us that we were supposed to be as good as our field players on the field, so basically that’s where I learned my skills for the field, and I was really, really excited to play, and [coach] Brown said I could only play if we were winning 3-0 in the first half, so that’s how I got to play forward,” Blessard said.

Monica Nelson took over in goal and did a fine job.

“I thought it was a good night tonight to put [Nelson] in there and give her a little time back there, and she got a shutout along with Blessard so [it’s] a good start for her,” Brown said.

Nelson, at forward, scored the first Mount Si goal before a minute elapsed off the clock, then Torget scored her fourth goal of the year in the eighth minute. Kali Roestel fired one into an empty net in the 34th minute for goal number three of the night, then Tipton scored in the 47th minute, a great goal considering she was playing with that deep bruise in her knee suffered in the Liberty game. Katie Woolsey (68th minute), Krisi Lund (73rd) and Nikki Stanton (77th) rounded out the scoring. Lund (2), Stanton, Woolsey, Mariana Zanella and Mariah Stevens all recorded assists.

The Wildcats host Newport Thursday. Game time is 7:30 p.m.