NAPAVINE — The Napavine girls soccer team checked off a few firsts early Wednesday evening in a non-league matchup against 1B Evergreen Lutheran. Notably, the Tigers got to take to their home turf for the first time, and they celebrated by scoring their first goal of the season.
But it’s a good thing they ticked those marks early.
The Tigers, who led 1-0 at halftime on a goal by Grace Pancake, ended up winning by that same scoreline — because there never ended up being a second half, after a peculiar turn of events left Evergreen Lutheran without a coach.
“I’ve never had that happen before,” Napavine coach Mike Dieckman said. Neither had assistant coach Chris Tarabochia, nor athletic director Josh Fay, nor just about anybody in the stands at Tiger Field.
Shortly after Napavine took its lead in the 21st minute, a loose ball on the far touchline from the benches resulted in a major collision which sent an Evergreen Lutheran player hard to the turf, only to break her fall awkwardly on her wrist.
After being able to come off the field under her own power to be subbed off — allowing play to resume — the Eagle in question fell to the turf and stayed down in pain. Soon after, Evergreen Lutheran coach Emily Muir — the only EL coach at the game — decided her player needed to be taken to the emergency room, and left the stadium to drive her there to receive further treatment.
Muir left a parent in charge of the Eagles’ bench for the remainder of the half, which concluded without any further incident on the field. But just before the teams kicked off the second half, a delay was called. With no certified Evergreen Lutheran coach on the premises the liability on Napavine’s part was considered too great in case of another injury, and it was left to Dieckman to gather all the players up and tell them that the rest of the match had to be abandoned.
“They didn’t have a certified assistant coach,” Dieckman said. “It is what it is. The refs were saying that it is considered to be a complete game, because we made it to the half.”
So ended Napavine’s first win of 2023, which had little in the way of highlights or newsworthy moments, until it ended with one very, very odd one.
Pancake’s goal came on the only shot on target of the match, when a good spell of possession in the middle third led to a long ball up to sophomore Hayden Kaut, who brought it down at the top of the 18-yard box in a crowd. With a couple of defenders on her immediately, Kaut laid off a short pass to Pancake, and the junior snapped off a quick left-footed shot between two defenders to find twine.
“The ball went across, and (Kaut) brought it back into play like you’re supposed to,” Dieckman said. “She headed it back through, and Grace finished it off.”
Aside from that, Napavine’s only real chance came a few minutes before halftime, when Hannah Fay got free down the right flank and turned in toward goal, but her tough-angle shot was blocked out of bounds.
On the flip side, the Tigers kept their sheet clean for another half, stretching their shutout streak to 120 minutes to begin the season after drawing 0-0 against 1A Eatonville on Wednesday.
“Our defense has been really solid,” Dieckman said.”I’m very positive about how we’re going to do, it’s just a matter of being able to play that possession against the teams that are going to pressure you. That’s where we’ve got to get better.”
Napavine is set to get nearly a week off before facing off against another 1B squad when it hosts Crosspoint Academy next Tuesday in its final tuneup before league play begins.
