TUMWATER — Fresh off a marathon 16-round penalty shootout victory over Ridgefield in the 2A District 4 semifinals, the Tumwater girls soccer team was understandably banged up headed into its district championship matchup against the Greater St. Helens League champion Columbia River Thursday night.
Throw on some players battling sickness, and a miserably rainy night with some gusts, and the unbeaten Thunderbirds were pretty quick to admit that Thursday’s championship game was their stiffest test of the season.
But just like all year, the T-Birds passed the test, and took a 2-1 victory over the Rapids at Tumwater District Stadium to finish the regular season and district run unbeaten and unblemished at 16-0-2.
“It seems like so many times it comes down to us and Columbia River,” Tumwater coach Brett Bartlett said. “They do a great job, they’re well coached and fun to play against, we’re similar sides and programs. It seems like we’re doing this on a regular basis at the end of the season.
“It's good to get the win, they really rallied.”
Tied up at 1-1 headed into stoppage time, and with both sides’ attacks getting snuffed out by stellar defensive play for most of the night, the Thunderbirds kept at it, and found themselves with a strong counterattack chance in the 79th.
With time winding down, Emalyn Shaffer — who had already scored a goal in the 32nd minute to equalize the game after a 26th minute River goal — fired a shot toward Rapids’ keeper Alia Rust, who let the ball spill out in front of the net after an initial save, right toward the foot of sophomore Ava Jones, who left no doubt to put Tumwater ahead with moments left.
Though the Rapids managed two more corners before the final whistle, the T-Bird defense held up, like they had for most of the night, and helped Tumwater to a district championship.
“For us it was about character and heart, we’ve been preaching that,” Bartlett said. “People play to beat us and we play to be us. We want to protect our culture and character and show who we are everytime we step on the field.
“The effort out of Ava and Emalyn, especially, they’ve been sick all week, we weren’t sure we’d have them today. The fact that they ran those out and scored, that was super critical for us.”
The goal came after a fairly frustrating first 78 minutes for the T-Birds, who had kept level with the Rapids the entire game despite a heavy foul discrepancy that favored the road team.
Though River earned several free kick chances — with most over 30 yards — the Tumwater defense did what it's done all season, and allowed just one goal all game. That goal was just the fifth goal allowed through 18 games.
“Our kids really rally well,” Bartlett said. “Our midfield gets back in and protects that next level. We always talk about challenging and then winning that second ball, that one is always the most dangerous.”
The win moves the Thunderbirds into the state tournament as one of just three teams at the 2A level without a loss, where they will likely earn a top-4 seed and the right to host games up until the state semifinals and finals, which will take place at Shoreline Stadium.
Though a district title win certainly was on the T-Birds season checklist, Tumwater will look to hit the ground running early next week and search for its first placement at state in program history.
“We’ve got plans,” Bartlett said. “The tournament is the tournament, it's tough, you’re playing the best of the best. The road doesn't get easier, but you get better doing hard things. So we’ve gotta be strong.”
