SUMNER — After a penalty shootout victory last night against No. 5 Toledo in the semifinals, the No. 8 Adna girls soccer team couldn’t repeat the feat in a penalty shootout loss to No. 2 Kalama in the 2B state title game Saturday at Sunset Stadium.
The Pirates again played to a scoreless stalemate in regulation and extra time, with neither team able to score, before falling in PKs, 7-6.
After getting shut down due to a COVID-19 outbreak right before districts, the Pirates began a historic run. Adna got all the way to the district championship game, against these same Chinooks, where they fell, 3-1.
After that, despite finishing as runners-up in the strongest 2B soccer league in the state, they were given the No. 8 seed and a second-round date with No. 1 juggernaut Okanogan.
Just to get to the title game, their first in program history, the Pirates had to overcome the odds.
“We were so close,” Pirates coach Horst Malunat said. “Nobody counted on us to do anything, that motivated us a bit. We had a lot of adversity, we’re lucky to have some really resilient kids, they did a great job. For everything we went through this season, you can’t just look at tonight, you have to look at the whole season. You have to look at the process and everything that happened, and even if you look at us tonight, we had a lot of grit and a lot of character and a lot of heart.”
The Pirates controlled possession for a good chunk of the first half, earning a free kick opportunity in the first 10 minutes that sailed just north of the crossbar. But the second half was a different story. The Chinooks clamped down on the defensive end, and dropped back to prevent any sort of chance at a Pirates goal.
“We did pretty good, we just couldn’t get shots off,” Malunat said. “Neither team had a lot of clear opportunities throughout the game … it just came down to the PKs, and that’s tough. It’s a tough way in soccer to decide a champion.”
The championship game was the fourth straight game this weekend to go to penalty kicks, with both semifinal matchups going the distance, and the third-place match between Toledo and Highland also going to PKs after a 1-1 draw.
When the title game went to PKs, it was anyone’s game, and the Pirates finished just short of the program’s first state championship. The Chinooks, meanwhile, won their first ever state title.
“It just comes down to the smallest of things,” Malunat said.
The Pirates graduate 10 seniors, an incredibly strong class that helped them to three trophies in four years, with last season being the abbreviated spring season with no state. They made the state semifinals every year, and this year advanced further than any Adna team had before. Those seniors are Macy Kalnoski, Summer White, Kaylin Todd, Madi Stark, Faith Wellander, Gracie Beaulieu, Zarine Walker, Leslie Davies, Presley Smith, and Sadie Burdick.
