Kamiakin soccer team heads to 4A state semifinals + CBC men’s soccer takes NWAC title
Chris Erickson likes to be quiet during practice and just listen to her players.
What the long-time Kamiakin girls soccer coach usually hears is talk about boyfriends, upcoming dances, classes, etc.
Not this year’s Braves team. This one is all about soccer.
“There are serious conversations going on. They share ideas about soccer,” said Erickson. “They’re the Dream Team. This team is so focused. It works, and they play well.”
No. 3-seeded Kamiakin (17-3) meets No. 7 Issaquah (13-4) at 5 p.m., Friday, in the WIAA Class 4A girls state soccer semifinals at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
The other semifinal Friday, which is at 7 p.m., features No. 12 Woodinville against top-seeded Skyline.
The winners will meet at 5 p.m., Saturday, for the state title. The losers will play for third place at 1 p.m., Saturday.
Back in August, Erickson wasn’t sure what she had with this team.
“I had to replace the whole back line,” she said. That’s because the three graduating seniors were all signed to play at Eastern Washington University.
And now?
“A PE teacher at our school calls them the Legion of Boom,” said Erickson. “I think we’re pretty well rounded. Our offense is pretty potent. Our defense is pretty good. And our keeper is outstanding.”
Two of her players have already committed to colleges to play soccer: Kate Christian to Utah State; Kate Hollenberg to Montana State University Billings.
With all of that, though, Erickson and her players know that Friday’s contest won’t be easy.
“Issaquah is big and fast, and they have a good goalkeeper,” she said. “We have to play smart defense, have our opportunities to score. I suspect they will be very physical.”
Good thing her players are considering this a business trip.
“They don’t want to go shopping while we’re there,” she said. “We’re going to have to find a way to entertain them.”
CBC sports
For the past five seasons, Martin Ramirez has worked toward the goal of his Columbia Basin College men’s soccer team at winning the NWAC men’s soccer championship.
On Sunday, that happened, as the Hawks (14-3) beat Walla Walla Community College 1-0 at the Starfire Complex in Tukwila.
In Friday’s semifinals, Corey Villegas, Gabriel Delgado and Raymundo Mendez each scored a goal, keeper Jose Corona had 6 saves, and CBC beat Everett 3-1.
In that 1-0 win over Walla Walla, Delgado scored the game’s only goal unassisted at the 39 minute mark. Corona had three saves in the win.
“We’ve been really working hard on this for the last 5 years,” said Ramirez. “Every year, we’ve gotten closer.”
Last season, Ramirez and CBC thought they had a great chance at making the finals. But Highline came into Pasco and eliminated them in the quarterfinals.
“This year, we had a big group coming back,” Ramirez said. “All these kids (on this team) come from around here, and from different backgrounds. We recruit this area, and many of these guys are killing it in the classroom.
“Some of these guys are first-generation college students. They’re very supported in the community. Many of these guys have known each other since they were little children.”
And many of them aren’t done playing college soccer.
“We have 12 (sophomores) in this class,” said Ramirez. “They’ll all be walking out of here with a degree. Some are being looked at by NCAA D2 schools, others by NAIA schools. All of this, though, doesn’t happen without the coaching staff, the players, their families, the sponsors.”
Now, what to do for an encore?“Winning it once is nice. Can we win it again, and again, and again?”
▪ The CBC women’s soccer team (15-2-1) finished third last Friday in the NWAC championships at Tukwila, falling 2-1 to Clark College in the semifinals.
Anna Neal’s goal from a Kelli Huskic pass in the 82nd minute proved to be the difference for Clark.
Violet Duran scored a goal off of assists from Yareli Sanchez and Hali’A Kalehuawehe in the 76th minute to tie the game up at 1-1 for CBC.
Clark outshot CBC 22-5, and Hawks keeper Kylie Patocka had 7 saves.
▪ The CBC volleyball team continues to fight adversity after losing their head coach, DiShondra Goree, who passed away unexpectedly a few weeks ago.
The Hawks (28-3) qualified for the postseason and went to Linn-Benton for their regional tournament.
CBC went 2-1 — beating Pierce 3-0, losing to Linn-Benton 3-0, then beating Everett 3-1 — to qualify for this coming weekend’s Elite 8 tournament.
That’s set Friday through Sunday at Pierce College in Tacoma.
At Linn-Benton, CBC’s Hokulani Sagapolu led the Hawks with 34 kills over the three matches, adding 44 digs and 3 aces.
Lucendy Perez added 30 kills for the weekend, while Josephine Thompson had 91 assists.
CBC has the late match Friday, at 8 p.m., against Skagit Valley.
Other first-round matches in this single-elimination finals includes Lane vs. Bellevue (and North Region MVP Marin Mackey, a Richland High graduate) at 11 a.m.; Highline against Linn-Benton at 2 p.m.; and Lower Columbia vs. North Idaho at 5 p.m.
State swimming
A shoutout goes to Richland High senior Giulia Squeri, who placed third in the Class 4A 100 freestyle finals last Saturday at the WIAA state high school girls swimming and diving championships in Federal Way.
Squeri crossed the finish line in 54.59 seconds.