TUMWATER — For years, it has been a hallmark for the Tumwater High School boys soccer program.
Deploying a two-goalie system with Lukas Stuart and AJ Heichelbech for three years aided the T-Birds to a pair of Class 2A state tournament appearances, including a quarterfinal trip in 2022. One was on the taller side, the other shorter.
It is a system that John Hayes not only is comfortable with, but prefers if the playing style of his group is cohesive with it.
“The boys responded to it,” Tumwater’s head coach said. “If you’ve got two keepers who are pretty comparable, you’re OK with it.”
Hayes has got another pair of goalies – one short and one tall – that for the first time in regulation, came away with a victory.
Davyn McGilvrey and Grady Harroun posted a clean sheet in goal and the latter found the back of the net in the first half in a 3-0 victory over W.F. West in an Evergreen Conference tussle on Friday night at Tumwater District Stadium.
With Aberdeen’s 2-1 victory over Centralia, there’s a three-way tie atop the table with Aberdeen, Tumwater and W.F. West are 4-1 in the league.
“It sets us up for success,” Hayes said. “Knowing what each opponent has gives us more of a gameplan.”
McGilvrey halted several shots in the opening half to keep Tumwater in front 1-0 and Harroun finished off the final 40 minutes with a handful of saves. They unveiled the two-goalie system in a 3-2 loss to Aberdeen in penalty kicks on Tuesday.
In the eyes of Harroun and Hayes, it has been successful to start.
“Me and Davyn are friends and have similar play styles,” Harroun said. “They can trust us in the back. If a team is playing this way or that way, then we can cover it.”
The junior returned to playing goalie after suffering two fractures in his pinkie finger, but was able to play through it as a defenseman. His presence helped the T-Birds break a scoreless tie late in the first half.
After a long corner kick was unsuccessful, they went short and caught W.F. West off guard. Harroun was in the right place at the right time on a rebound shot that zipped into the back of the net in the 34th minute.
“It was kind of a golden opportunity," Harroun said. “It almost felt like it slowed down in slow-motion and I was able to poke it in.”
Dylan Stevens flicked in a back heel goal in the 49th minute off a free kick to double the T-Birds (6-5 overall) cushion. Michael Vuong unleashed a laser from 25-plus yards in the 78th minute to put the game out of reach.
It was the type of response the coaching staff wanted to see after losing to the Bobcats where they fell in penalty shootout despite having several chances.
“It was a heartbreaking one because we felt we should have beat Aberdeen, we just didn’t finish in the net,” Hayes said. “At the start of the night, I thought it might be similar. We couldn't figure out their speed and technical ability in the midfield.”
W.F. West (5-5) had plenty of opportunities early. Within the first 15 minutes, it had two free kicks and four total shots that went wide. It controlled possession in the midfield for the first half-hour of game time.
Coach Allen Anderson called it “the story of the season so far.”
“So close, but not quite in,” he said. “The boys started the game really, really well. We had the energy, we were out-playing them. One of those games I don't feel like the score doesn’t reflect the performance. It is only one game.”
The Bearcats were without Colin Bradley and Devin Canfield and added striker Adrian Jaimes to the growing pile of injuries. Jaimes had to be helped off the field in the final 10 minutes and had a noticeable limp heading to the bench.
He was described as “sore” afterwards.
Still, Anderson is banking on the experience coupled with some young guns heading into the second batch of EvCo matches. W.F. West will start against Aberdeen at home on Tuesday, one of four home games to close the regular season.
The Bearcats won’t leave Lewis County until potentially the postseason.
“They know they played well,” Anderson said. “We made that one mistake, lost our focus for 10 seconds and that’s all it takes when you’re playing a good team. They’ll expose you and take advantage of it.”
Tumwater begins the second half push as the one being chased for the league title. It faces Shelton on Tuesday.
“Aberdeen was a fluke,” Harroun said. “We were top of the league, winning most of our games by a decent amount of goals.”
