Tigers to State Soccer Tourney

SPOKANE - For the second time in three years, the WP Tigers soccer team made it into the final four for its division and are off to Sumner for the state champi­onship tournament.

"We're back," assistant coach Jay Potts said. "That feels great. The boys are re­ally excited about it. About half the team (starters) have been there before and for the other half it's all brand new."

The Tigers earned their spot by beating Northwest Christian 1-0 in Spokane on Saturday. Striker Ivan Figueroa scored on an assist from Ernesto Valdovinos in the 11th minute and their team's defense helped them hang on to the lead despite a last-minute onslaught from the Crusaders.

"Ivan got it started for us and after that, our defense played well," Potts said. "It wasn't the best game we ever played, but we played well enough to win."

And, Potts observed, the team was more disciplined in sticking to its defensive strategy, which came apart the weekend before against St. George. The players' superior stamina also played a key role in the Tigers' vic­tory, the assistant coach said.

"We amped up the (phys­ical) conditioning two and a half weeks ago and it paid off on Saturday," he said.

The Tigers took 19 "de­cent" shots on goal com­pared to the Crusaders' 4. WP had some opportunities that could have resulted in a second goal but lacked accuracy, Potts said. "The changes we made at half time produced some qual­ity runs and shots. They just didn't go in."

To hang on to their lead during the frigid and, in the early minutes, snowy en­counter against Northwest Christian, the team relied on the four backs to con­tain the Crusaders' offense: Giovanni Gonzalez, Alberto Sandoval, Carlos Sandoval and Rodrigo Gonzalez.

Particularly in the last 20 minutes, when Northwest Christian was forced to go all out to try to even the score, the defense shielded the Tigers' slim lead, Potts said. "They were attacking, but we were able to take care of that."

Two of Christian Caro's four saves came in the last 20 minutes of the game, but otherwise the four backs left little daylight for the defend­ing state champions.

WP faces its first oppo­nent, Grace Academy from Marysville, at 8 p.m. on Friday. If they win, they will play the winner of the other final four game for the state title. If they lose, they will play the loser of the other game for third place. Both of those games are on Saturday.

Although Grace Acad­emy's Eagles have made it to the quarter finals the past two years, they have yet to win a state title. The program has been around for two decades and was ranked second in the state this year. The current Eagles team's core revolves around broth­ers Josh and Jeremiah Lee, veteran players who run the defense and offense respec­tively. The talented Jeremiah Lee opens up the offense, which also gets him double- teamed or triple-teamed, ac­cording to news reports.

But he's broken through plenty of times to rout other teams and make it to the final four, where his hopes and those of his team are as high as those of the Tigers.

"Ever since we lost at state last year, we've been looking forward to coming back this year," Eagles coach Mark Ruhlman was quoted as saying in Marysville's North County Outlook.

Potts said the WP coaches are not familiar with their first opponents' offensive strategy, but plan to empha­size their own proven strat­egy of containment.

"We're going to stick with what's been working for us," he said. "We have things to work on. We'll keep the conditioning (re­gime) where it is and be ready for whomever comes on the field against us."