The Ellensburg Bulldogs shouldn’t really feel too dangerous.
Apparently, there is just one factor that may maintain the Columbia River women soccer workforce from reaching the Class 2A state semifinals.
A worldwide pandemic.
For an eighth consecutive 12 months by which a state match has been held — the match was not held throughout the COVID 12 months of 2020-21 — the Rapids punched their ticket to the state’s ultimate 4 with a powerful 4-0 win over Ellensburg on Saturday.
“It never gets old,” senior defender Raya Janson stated. “It’s the best feeling, and we’re so grateful every year. We’ve been here for four (years) and every year, it’s the same. We put in the same amount of work and everything.”
Whereas the backline, led by Jensen and fellow senior Peyton Dukes, is a power for the Rapids, River’s forwards got here out pushing arduous, as the primary 5 minutes had been taking part in nearly fully on the Ellensburg’s half of the sphere.
“They were lively from the beginning,” coach Filomon Afenegus stated. “The backline has been a mainstay the whole entire year, but our forwards and midfielders did a good job defensively. We won the ball higher up on the field and created some good opportunities off of that.”
Janson stated the Rapids had been pleasantly shocked by Ellenburg’s selection of which facet of the sphere the Bulldogs’ would defend to begin the match, permitting River’s offense to function in entrance of its bench.
“It was just like ‘well, if we’re going to play offense on this side, then let’s hype it up,’ ” Janson stated. “I think that helped at the start of the game just bring the whole tempo up. We got the parents going. I think that our energy just hyped everybody up.”
River’s early vitality and strain produced its first aim within the 18th minute when Sydney Stimmel knocked in a rebound of a shot by Meg Perkins.
River took that 1-0 lead into halftime, however the margin felt bigger given the Rapids’ first-half fringe of possession.
“We just talked about finishing,” Afenegus stated. “Really, that’s it. We got some good moments in the first half. We just needed to put them in the back of the net. The second half, we were just very efficient in the first 20 minutes of the half.”
Just like the rain pouring down, the Rapids received a fast deluge of targets within the second half.
Makayla Hundt scored off an help from Perkins within the forty fifth minute, Remi Buckley tapped in a cross from Ivy Henderson within the forty ninth minute, and Stimmel scored once more within the fifty fifth minute.
Columbia River will face West Valley of Spokane within the state semifinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Mt. Tahoma Excessive College in Tacoma.
Dukes stated Saturday’s win was the payoff of a season of labor.
“Just super thrilled with our performance tonight,” Dukes stated. “The past few weeks have been all that work to get us here. We just got to keep pushing, and I think we’ll be super confident going into next weekend. We’re super excited about it, glad to be back, and we’ll just keep pushing.”
COLUMBIA RIVER 4, ELLENSBURG 0
Columbia River
Targets (assists) — Sydney Stimmel (Meg Perkins); Makayla Hundt (Perkins); Remi Buckley (Ivy Henderson); Stimmel (Ava Labrador). Goalkeeper saves — Ruby Ayers 1.
Halftime — Columbia River 1-0.