NAPAVINE — Despite staying dry for most of the game, Tuesday night’s 2B District 4 first round matchup between Napavine and Toledo was a slog.
In a rematch of last year’s first round, a game that Toledo won and started its run toward a fourth-place finish at state, the Tigers came out on the winning end Tuesday night, 1-0, thanks to late heroics from Dani Tupuola and Hayden Kaut.
Sending a nice through-ball ahead to Kaut in transition, Tupuola started the attack after the Tigers found their footing late in the game in the 75th minute. When the ball found the foot of Kaut, she took a couple of dribbles upfield and sent a dribbler toward the left post, where Riverhawk keeper Daphnie Bybee missed by a sliver to give the Tigers the lead with five minutes to go.
Napavine hung in from there, and will advance to play Kalama in the district semifinals Thursday night in Kalama.
“We did not play well,” Tigers coach Mike Dieckman said. “We played Adna Friday in the game of our lives, but we’re really young … it wasn’t our best, but you have to win the ugly ones too.”
The Tigers had more than their fair share of chances, earning two penalty kick chances in the first and second half. The first sailed right into the arms of Bybee for a save, and the second just over the crossbar.
Though Napavine couldn’t convert those golden opportunities, it kept at it and is just one win away from the state playoffs.
“It’s unusual for us to miss PKs, but that’s the game,” Dieckman said. “We just had to keep at it and continue to play hard and believe in ourselves.”
Bybee led the Riverhawk defensive effort, recording what seemed like save-after-save to keep Toledo in the game, and though the Riverhawks threatened to score a few times, the Tigers backline held strong and made plays when they needed to.
The Tigers take on the Chinooks in the night cap in Kalama at 8 p.m. Thursday while the Riverhawks’ season is over.
