TENINO — For the second consecutive year, the Adna girls soccer team met up with Kalama with a district title on the line, and for the second straight season, the Pirates came up just short in a 1-0 defeat to the Chinooks Saturday afternoon at Tenino Beaver Stadium.
The Pirates were dead-even with the Chinooks at half, and for most of the game, in rain, sun, and wind Saturday afternoon in the 2B District 4 title game, but let up a goal that spilled in front of the net for a tad too long in the 48th minute.
“Kalama’s a very good program, they’ve had a lot of select players come through their program which is a huge benefit for sure, and they play on turf all the time,” Pirates coach Patrick Richardson said. “But it's how you adapt and change your style of play to compete against teams like that. That really shows what you can do.”
Aside from that long miscue, the Pirates were otherwise incredibly stout defensively, holding the potent Chinooks to a limited amount of good looks. When Kalama did break through, Adna keeper Jordanne Moon made plays to keep balls from finding the back of the net.
“The defense played really well, for the most part,” Richardson said. “We made an adjustment to how our defense was playing today before the game and they really took to it. They really stepped up and did what we asked of them, that was huge for them to be able to adjust themselves and put forth the performance that they had.”
And on the other side, while the Pirates put up a goose egg, they had more than enough opportunities to steal away a win against a program they know very well.
Adna is still building its offense and learning when and when not to take chances at a goal from various parts of the final third of the field.
But otherwise, Richardson was very pleased with how his Pirates played after needing a come-from-behind effort against Onalaska on Thursday to even make it this far in the district tournament.
“For us to come out here and hold them to a 1-0 game is a huge accomplishment,” Richardson said. “We had opportunities to take it ourselves. I’m really happy with how we played, we took a step forward from the other night and we still have more potential to take another step next week. Hopefully we can come out focused next week and make a good showing at state.”
The Pirates will learn their postseason fate and where they have to go Sunday around Noon, when the seedings are announced for the state playoffs starting early next week. The Pirates have just three losses this season and should be in line to host at least the first round of the playoffs.
