It was the start Adna wanted and the finish it hoped to avoid.
The Pirates jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute then surrendered three goals to Kalama to take a 3-1 loss in the 2B District 4 championship match Saturday at Tiger Stadium.
“The conditions were tough, we made some mistakes and they cost us,” Adna coach Horst Malunat said. “Kalama did well and they capitalized on our mistakes. We had a really high, emotional game to get here and it was hard to replicate that.”
The Pirates, who were playing in their first district title match since 2018, were vying for their first district title since 2017 after a thrilling penalty-kick victory over Onalaska in the semifinals Thursday.
But it wasn’t meant to be for an Adna squad that is just three games back from a two-week layoff due to the school being shutdown for COVID protocol.
The Pirates certainly didn’t look like a team that had two-weeks off in the opening 20 minutes, as they battled downfield and drew Kalama’s keeper out of goal before senior Kaylin Todd smashed the ball into the back of the net to put the Pirates up 1-0.
That sparked some intensity into the Chinooks, who took a corner kick and scored on a header in the 35th minute for the equalizer. When Kalama scored again on a corner kick in the 49th minute, it felt like the game might be slipping away from the Pirates, and when the Chinooks scored the dagger in the 72nd minute, it was all but over.
The one thing Malunat told his team after the match was the season isn’t over.
“We’re still playing and we’re moving on and that’s the main thing; we’re not done,” Malunat said. “We still get to play, and that’s the important thing. We’ll move on and figure out who our opponent is.”
Adna (9-5) will now await the WIAA’s state seeding to be released at noon on Sunday. A top-4 seed would give the Pirates a first-round bye and host their first match. A 5-8 seed would give the Pirates a home match in the first round.
