For 90 minutes, neither Onalaska or Adna could send the ball through the back of the net. Even when the first district final spot was to be decided by a penalty shootout, after a 0-0 deadlock, the squads couldn’t find a score. Both teams missed their first three kicks with a final berth on the line.
Finally, the ball went through for both the Loggers and Pirates, and then Zarine Walker stepped up and drilled Adna’s final kick to send them into the district final against Kalama.
“The girls were telling me they have never made it to the district final,” Pirates coach Horst Malunat said. “It came down to the last kicker, and we came through.”
It was a back and forth game all night, with each team finishing with about 10 shots on goal, but neither being able to break through in 90 minutes of play. But when it got to to the penalty shootout, senior Presley Smith drilled Adna’s first, and fellow senior Walker made the last kick to propel the Pirates past the Loggers.
Malunat said that part of the reason for both teams' struggles to score was playing on a faster, turf surface in Kalama. Both the Pirates and Loggers play their home matches on grass, and with a title date this Saturday on Centralia’s turf, the coach is hopeful his team will adjust come the weekend.
“We haven’t played on turf much this season,” Malunat said. “Hopefully we’ll get more acclimated to that kind of field and make that adjustment.”
After starting the season 0-4 against some good competition, including a loss to Onalaska in September, the Pirates are undefeated since, and are using the lessons learned from those games in the postseason now.
“Preseason doesn’t matter,” Malunat said. “All that matters now is what happens on Saturday.”
The Pirates will move on to play Kalama in the district championship on Saturday at Noon in Centralia, while the Loggers, who have already secured a state berth, will play in the third-place game against Toledo at 10 a.m., also in Centralia.
