TOLEDO — Jon Bates isn’t used to nip-and-tuck matches. When he was the head coach at Kalama, his group routinely put on a clinic against C2BL counterparts.
In his first season at the helm for the Napavine High School girls soccer team, even under more tightly contested clashes, the winning has remained constant.
Spurred by two first half goals and weathering a 30-minute storm in the second half, the Tigers extended their winning streak to eight and maintained an unblemished record in the league with a 2-1 triumph over Toledo on a rainy Monday night in Toledo.
“It was a tough game, we knew it would be,” Bates said. “They’re resilient. I’m proud of that. We can’t let them back in the game. They were coming in pretty physical,
Over the last two years, Napavine (8-2, 4-0 C2BL) has won plenty of games in the regular season. It tallied 13 victories in 2022 and 11 last fall. The district tournament has been the bugaboo.
It has lost two straight winner-to-state games and haven’t reached the state tournament since the 2B state title game in 2012,
“Went straight back to square one, called grassroots, build up from there,” Bates said. “I’m trying to push them, get more of that energy. Keep playing hard in practice, it’ll show up in games.”
What has been a strength – one that was identified early in training – was the Tigers’ back line and goalie Taylen Evander. Monday featured just the second goal Evander allowed in the winning streak.
The junior corralled several chances by the Riverhawks in the second half and by dropping six back in the final 10 minutes, any opportunity for an equalizer was cleared away.
When the final buzzer sounded, Bates unleashed a joyous scream. So too did Napavine.
“Got to stay disciplined and we did,” Bates said. “From the get-go, the defensive structure, they're really supporting each other.”
Toledo (5-5-1, 2-1-1) cut the deficit in half on a 62nd minute goal from freshman Peyton Holter. The passing was sharper in the final 40 minutes, leading to the tally. There was a min-scrum in front of the net before Holter nudged it in.
Holter had another long-range chance a minute later that Evander caught.
“We were letting them dictate the game,” Riverhawks head coach Horst Malunat said. “I just told them ‘Crossing, attacking the ball, winning the ball in the air and if you do that, we’re in the game.’ They decided they can be in the game (that) half.”
Napavine got the early cushion on a Maya Kunkel corner that Hayden Kaut found a foot on the ball and squeaked it into the back of the net. There were several players from both sides right in front of Toledo keeper Abril Cabrera.
It bounced around for a bit before Kaut, a junior, put the Tigers up 1-0. She then found teammate Jenna Gallagher in the 32nd minute to double the lead.
Gallagher took a ground shot and it rolled into the bottom left corner. All nine of the Tigers shots were on frame while Evander notched 10 saves.
Napavine hosts Ocosta on Wednesday while Toledo welcomes Ilwaco on the same night. With the league slate nearing the halfway point, two true perfect records remain and the Riverhawks sit with a loss and a draw.
Malunat is hopeful the mental block – giving up two early goals Monday and trailing Adna for a bit – can be cleared.
“If we want to, we can play with any team,” he said. “Experience is the best way. To me, if we take care of business, we should still do well enough to get that top-four spot.”
