Shorewood Stormrays and Shorecrest Scots battle for top spots in 3A District 1 Soccer Tournament

Goalie Kaare Nye stopping a goal. Photo by Kristi Lin

By TCA

The Shorewood Stormrays and the Shorecrest Scots enjoyed a well-earned rest with a bye, before the 3A District 1 soccer tournament. 

Meanwhile, the play-in contests were going ahead, with #8 Snohomish facing #9 Mountlake Terrace. In this Wesco North-South matchup, the Panthers (Snohomish) edged the Hawks (MLT) with a long bomb free-kick, 1-0. Snohomish moved on to face #1 Shorewood, on Saturday 5/9. 

At Lincoln Field, #6 Everett (Wesco South) played against #11 Oak Harbor (Northwest Conference), and the Seagulls eliminated the Wildcats, with a 3-1 win. Everett moved on to face #3 Shorecrest, on Saturday 5/9. 

Morgan Grutz, #15, has led the team all season

In the other quarter-final matches, #2 Mount Vernon will play #10 Edmonds Woodway (Warriors), and #4 Monroe will play #5 Lynnwood (Royals), with the Warriors and Royals outplaying their play-in opponents. 

All quarter-final games will be played at the home field of the higher seed. The prospect of semifinals and finals beckon the winners, while the losers face the ordeal of the playoffs for third and fourth place. Qualification for State is at stake!

NEWS FLASH:

Shorewood high school boys varsity soccer team put on a gritty performance last Saturday afternoon in sunny, dry conditions at the 3A District 1 playoff quarter-final match of the league postseason soccer tournament. 

#17 runs away with the ball. Photo by Kristi Lin

Panthers and Rays

#8 Snohomish pipped #9 Mountlake Terrace 1-0 two nights ago, they now faced #1 Shorewood, which was undefeated in Wesco South. The Snohomish secret weapon was on the sidelines, greybeard Coach Dan Pingrey, who knows how to win State Championships. Pingrey was a professional soccer player in Europe before he went to police academy and spent several years as Shoreline's chief of police.

Panthers made their intentions clear, coming out in a defensive 5-4-1 formation, known as “parking the bus.” They were content to let Rays have possession, but swarmed with their zone marking, frustrating Shorewood around the 18-yard box. 

The Stormrays were forced to attempt wayward shots from outside the box, compounded by missing key striker #10. Snohomish was satisfied to keep the match scoreless, occasionally trying to score on a counterattack, while being tough & disciplined in defense. 

Photo by Kristi Lin

Panthers would be quite pleased to go to the lottery of penalty-kicks. Rays realized that their best chances would be from set pieces, as they won multiple free-kicks and corner-kicks. 

At the half-hour mark, a corner from the left floated into the six-yard box, stocky defender #16 had had enough, and muscled his way into the crowd and headed a bullet into the net, 1-0. 

Still, Panthers stuck to their strategy, since being down a single goal at the half was satisfactory, as a draw was still plausible. Surely now, they would need to go forward more, to snatch an equalizer. 

In the second half, Snohomish adjusted to a 4-4-2 formation, at best a 4-5-1, to maintain their defensive shape. 

Rays found more lanes down the wings, rather than down the clogged middle. One such move down the left flank was met with a double-team just outside the box, but a clumsy challenge concedes a free kick. 

#4 has the goal within range. Photo by Kristi Lin

All eyes are on defender #4, as the goal is within his range, so Panthers set up the wall to block it. Instead, he slips a short pass to the winger who as planned immediately crosses the ball behind the wall, with numbers in the box. The ball pings about in the melee like a pinball, the keeper bouncing around to impede the gaps, but a blue leg stabs at the ball, pushing it into the goal. 

The muscular appendage belonged to defender #16, who scores a brace, to help out his tightly marked forwards. 

At the hour mark, the score was 2-0, so it would not matter if Snohomish lost by two or three goals, it would still be a loss. In the time left, Panthers pushed forwards with more enthusiasm, but the Rays defense held firm, and counterattacked, with several chances denied by sharp goalkeeping of GK #0. As the clock wound down, Rays were content to run out the clock, and ice the game, as they have bigger royal fish to fry.

At the midway point of District 1 playoffs

At the midway point of the District 1 playoffs, 

• #10 Edmonds-Woodway upsets #2 Mount Vernon, 1-0; 
• #3 Shorecrest crushed #6 Everett, 4-0; 
• #5 Lynnwood surprises #4 Monroe (undefeated in Wesco North), 2-1 (in double OT). 

So the semi-final matchups are Shorewood vs Lynnwood, and Shorecrest vs Edmonds-Woodway, on Tuesday 5/12, for the right to meet in the final, and qualify for State! 

Anything can and probably will happen, as there was tension and high drama in Monroe today, where the flintiest players stepped up to keep Lynnwood going. Could Wesco South be the toughest conference in District 1? 

However, the journey is not over for Snohomish, Mount Vernon, Everett and Monroe, as they enter a playoff to try win 3rd or 4th place, and still go to State! 

Watch. This. Space.

-TCA