KALAMA — This time last year, the Toledo Riverhawks clinched a state tournament berth and advanced to the district championship game. On Thursday, the Riverhawks traveled to Kalama to face Adna with the chance to do it again.
“Last year, they thought it was the best thing ever, to get there,” Toledo coach Horst Malunat said. “Now, they expect to.”
The Riverhawks put their best foot forward to clinch their second straight state tournament appearance, breezing past Adna with a 3-0 win in a 1B/2B District 4 Semifinal.
“That was probably one of our best, complete games,” Malunat said. “I am pretty happy with the result.”
Toledo (11-3-3) began putting pressure on the Adna defense immediately, but they couldn’t put a loose ball home in the fifth minute. Just over ten minutes later, they had another loose ball in the net, but they couldn’t find a clean shot.
It wasn’t until the 18th minute that Onica Chase opened the scoring with a looping shot from the top of the box.
Just one minute later, the Pirates (9-9-2) had a clean chance for an equalizer, but the shot rang off the post.
The Riverhawks controlled the rest of the first half, but didn’t add on until early in the second.
Peyton Holter outran a defender and tapped the ball past Adna’s keeper, who hesitated a split-second too long coming out of the net.
Adna coach Patrick Richardson said that it was one of multiple mistakes that the Pirates made on the back end, but he’s glad that they’ll be able to correct it before their next match.
“You only learn it by doing it,” Richardson said.
Another defensive mistake led to Toledo’s third goal in the 65th minute. Xtyn Norberg won the ball off an Adna defender’s foot before placing a shot in the bottom left corner of the net.
The Riverhawks consistently had the ball deep into Adna’s third, and they put several more shots near the net before the final whistle blew.
“We were finding each other,” Malunat said. “That was really important tonight. We were connecting passes.”
The Pirates will get one more chance to clinch a state berth, when they play either Onalaska or Napavine on Saturday evening in Tenino
“It’s nice to have two chances at it,” Richardson said. “We didn’t do the simple things as much as we wanted to … It’s just another piece to learn from. We can’t hang our heads, just gotta get ready for the next one,” Richardson said.”
The Riverhawks will play for a district championship on Saturday night in Tenino for the second year in a row. Toledo will play against the winner of Onalaska and Napavine. Last season, the Riverhawks lost 1-0 to the Tigers in the district title game.
“I thought we played pretty well,” Malunat said. “We’re in good shape … But we have to keep improving, because the competition just gets better every step of the way. We just have to relentlessly pressure, play hard, and win every ball.”
