TACOMA – Capturing this system’s first state championship final yr left the Ridgefield women soccer staff a thankless process of making an attempt to comply with the feat this fall.
In the long run, two groups going through totally different units of obstacles, gamers younger and previous coming collectively to mesh and forge an identification discovered the identical end result on the end of a protracted journey.
The Spudders are back-to-back Class 2A state champions, and the second is simply as candy.
No. 1 seed Ridgefield secured a 1-0 win over No. 3 seed Columbia River, its 2A Larger St. Helens League rival, within the 2A state title recreation Saturday night time at Mount Tahoma Excessive Faculty so as to add one other championship trophy in its case. Ridgefield completed the season with 22-1-1.
“Oh my gosh, it’s a crazy accomplishment, especially to accomplish it two years in a row,” Ridgefield senior Marlee Buffham stated. “We’re all so happy to be here. We love each other. It’s always a challenge, and I think we love to be challenged.”
In Columbia River, the 2022 state champion, the Spudders’ problem was enjoying a well-known staff that they had seen 3 times already this season.
They gained two of three conferences whereas struggling their solely lack of the season again in September.
“Hard to gameplan, because they know us and we know them so well,” Ridgefield coach Steven Evans stated. “You never know what’s going to happen, but we do our best to play our game, and that’s kind of been our style all year. We don’t really change much for most teams.”
These two Ridgefield wins, nonetheless, together with the newest within the district championship recreation two weeks in the past on River’s residence subject, gave Ridgefield added confidence on the most important stage. That, and the truth that the Spudders had been on this similar place final yr.
“All day we were prepping for it, we were ready (and) we had a lot of confidence coming in,” Ridgefield senior Nora Martin stated. “We’ve been here before, and so have they. But they didn’t win last year, so we had that on our shoulder as well.”
The difference-making objective got here simply 10 minutes into the sport when Buffham delivered a cross towards Tori Lasch that bounced into Columbia River’s web for an personal objective.
The end result stood for the remaining 70 minutes plus stoppage time, because the Spudders turned to their brick wall of a protection that didn’t surrender a single objective throughout 4 state playoff video games. The Spudders outscored opponents 13-0 over that stretch.
Columbia River’s two finest scoring possibilities within the second half got here on mishandled clearances close to Ridgefield’s penalty space. In each cases, Ridgefield goalkeeper Opal Ruddy rushed in to kick the ball out, together with the 78th minute when Columbia River’s Peyton Dukes and Makayla Hundt made a run on the ball.
The latter play allowed the Spudders to carry possession for a lot of the ultimate couple of minutes till the ultimate whistle sounded and gamers ran to one another and fell right into a dogpile on the turf subject.
“This is just a storybook ending, for sure,” Ridgefield senior Baylee Bushnell stated. “Ending our senior year against this team just is so amazing. I’m just so grateful to come out on top.”
Asking Ridgefield gamers and coaches to check the 2 experiences — the fun of successful a penalty kick shootout over West Valley final yr, and the satisfaction of beating rival Columbia River — yields totally different solutions.
“They were both equally difficult, but in their own ways,” Martin stated. “Today we had a different group of girls and it’s been a really hard season from the bottom up. Even though we were ranked number one, still we had a lot to prove and a lot on our back.”
“They’re both a huge win for us,” Bushnell added. “Just coming out here and being able to compete against the best, like, this is the best, this stage. … It never gets easier, it’s always the same. It’s the same competition every year.”
One factor is for sure — the Spudders at the moment are well-acquainted with that state-championship successful feeling. For Ridgefield’s 9 seniors, it’s a sense they’ll finish their highschool careers on.
Again-to-back.
“It’s pretty bittersweet, but pretty exciting,” Buffham stated. “There’s no better way to end my senior year.”