Pasco scores early and often, rolls past Wenatchee 5-0 in quarterfinals

After losing in the state quarterfinals the past two years, the Pasco high school soccer team made its first victory in the Round of 8 since 2009 an emphatic one, beating defending state champion Wenatchee 5-0 on Saturday afternoon at Edgar Brown Stadium.

“I told my teammates, ‘It can’t happen again, especially in my last year,’ ” said Pasco senior forward Jesus Meraz Rodriguez, who scored two goals and also had two assists. “ ‘I don’t wanna go home, I want to celebrate, and I want to have fun with you guys.’ I was like, ‘It won’t happen again, I’ll make sure of that.’

“The goals came, the assists came ... it gives us that confidence, and we’ll get a few more days to train with each other, with my family, my teammates and my little brother. I’m excited for it, because I know we won’t let those days go to waste.”

Added senior midfielder David Uribe: “It feels amazing, it feels like I’m flying right now. But we’ve still got more work to do, we’re not done yet.”

The team the Bulldogs fell to in those quarterfinal losses, Central Valley, beat Camas 7-1 on Saturday and will meet Pasco at 8 p.m. Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup in the semifinals. This season, the Bulldogs beat the Bears in March, but CV got revenge in the regional championship game, topping Pasco 2-1.

“It’s always them, two great programs going at it,” Uribe said. “When you have good programs, you’ll always face each other in the later stages of the playoffs. And they’ve proved they’re a great team, we’ve proved we’re a great team. It’s gonna be a great game on Friday.”

Pasco beat Wenatchee 1-0 on April 5 in a defensive struggle. From the get-go, this was a much different game.

Luis Ortega — who had a goal and an assist in the Bulldogs’ 3-2 double overtime win over Mt. Rainier in the first round — opened the scoring in the first ten minutes. A score by Joel Valle, assisted by Edwin Aquino, in the 15th made it 2-0, and a brilliant breakaway and chip shot over the keeper by Meraz Rodriguez gave Pasco a three-goal advantage before the 20-minute mark.

Uribe capped the Bulldogs’ first-half scoring with an 18-yard, left-footed strike that found its way into the bottom-left corner of the goal for a 4-0 halftime lead.

Meraz Rodriguez doubled up in the 55th minute when his first attempt was saved, but the rebound went right back to him. He fired another shot that the keeper tried to tip over the bar, but it managed to settle just beyond the goal line, making it 5-0.

While Pasco coach Matt Potter was pleased with the ferocious offensive attack, it was another stat that had him grinning from ear to ear when the final whistle sounded.

“Shutout for sure, we love the shutout,” he said. “And we love the finishing, we’ve been working hard at it this week and we’ve been creating a lot of opportunities. ... Really happy to see the execution.”

The final two rounds of the state playoffs take place over two days, with the championship game set to kick off at 5 p.m. Saturday and the consolation game starting at noon. The Bulldogs are accustomed to playing tough teams in back-to-back games — played Kamiakin on March 14 and Central Valley on March 15, then took on Southridge on April 4 and Wenatchee on April 5 — which Potter said was no accident.

“We lined it up so we were playing back-to-back games a couple times, because that’s what you do when you go to the Final Four,” he said. “We want to be prepared.”

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 5:25 PM with the headline "Pasco scores early and often, rolls past Wenatchee 5-0 in quarterfinals."