No moral victories in Southridge’s state win over Mountain View

Since the Southridge High School girls soccer team has finished second in the state the past two years, it’s fair to say that coach Greg Sambrano knows what it takes to compete against and beat the best that Washington has to offer.

The Suns’ 3-0 home win over Mountain View in the opening round of the state tournament on Tuesday isn’t going to cut it, Sambrano said.

“I thought it was sloppy. I thought we played better in the second half,” he said. “I don’t think we can afford to play another half of sloppy soccer if we’re going to get back to the final four. We’re going to play a better team next round.

“Give Mountain View credit, they came out and worked and made us work. But it took us too long to put the game away.”

In a first half the Suns dominated, Morgan Nelson converted the only score in the 24th minute on a top shelf shot off her left foot that got inside the far post. Syd Sanders slid it across the box to pick up the assist.

Kelly Brown recorded an assist in the 66th when she pushed a pass to Savannah Brown, who hit a shot from just outside the penalty box that floated over Jessie Selby’s mitts to put the Suns up 2-0.

Two minutes later, Kelly Brown headed in a corner kick from Haley Thomas for the Suns’ third and final goal of the match.

“They were good goals, but I think collectively we need to just play better as a team,” Sambrano said.

While Southridge (18-2) was able to win comfortably, it was a night where the team created a number of strong scoring chances that weren’t converted, as the Suns outshot Mountain View 24-2.

“We need to clean up the game, our passing, our movement, our communication, we’ve got to get better in all of those areas,” Sambrano said.

Southridge will play either Snohomish or Lakeside (Seattle) at 1 p.m. Saturday.

This story was originally published November 8, 2016 at 9:31 PM with the headline "No moral victories in Southridge’s state win over Mountain View."