Overlake's Loucas Tsilas (11) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against United during a State 1A Boys Soccer tournament game at Tiger Stadium in Centralia on Wednesday.
If there was one bright spot for United on Wednesday, it was that a team expected to take a step backward came even closer to advancing out of the first round.
The Toledo-Winlock combo squad came up just short against Overlake, 1-0, in the opening round of the State 1A boys soccer playoffs.
Still, with a 17-2 record, United had little about which to hang their collective heads, after going undefeated against 1A Trico League competition and winning a second-straight District 4 title.
“We honestly didn’t think we were going to do as good as last year, because we lost a lot of seniors,” said Gustavo Barragan, United’s high-scoring sophomore striker. “But it went great. It was my favorite season so far.”
United coach Horst Malunat echoed the sentiment.
“We didn’t know how things would come to an end, but being 17-2 and still only giving up 10 goals in 19 games, that’s not a bad gig,” he said. “I’m really proud of them, and I think hopefully we represented District 4 well.”
Overlake, a private preparatory school in Redmond, controlled the ball through most of the first 20 minutes and managed a half-dozen shots on goal. Goalkeeper Alan Contreras foiled the Owls’ best attempt in the first half, diving to his right to deflect a low, hard shot from about 15 yards just before halftime.
The game’s only goal came in the 48th minute, when Overlake midfielder Loucas Tsilas caught a loose ricochet off a scrum in front of the net and, from about 5 yards out, knocked it into the left corner of the goal.
“It was a weird kind of thing,” Malunat said. “Some guy fell on two of our defenders, so we lost vision and broke down.”
United had a few chances to even the score later in the second half, but couldn’t quite find the right opportunity.
“I thought the second half was pretty even,” Malunat said. “They just got the goal, and that made all the difference.”
Overlake went 8-1-3 in 1A Emerald City League, and will move on to face Charles Wright Academy in the state quarterfinals.
“We knew they were going to be a tough team. The teams over there are pretty hard, compared to here,” Barragan said. “They go against other private schools that are pretty good, so we knew it was going to be a battle.”
As the score indicated, it was.
“They’re a good team. You get to see a little higher echelon of technical ability, a little more speed, and in some key positions,” Malunat said. “But I think we worked hard. We had a lot of heart, and one break here or there, and we knot it up.”
It was the first loss since March 11 for United, which fell 4-3 to 2A R.A. Long in its season opener. United won its first district title last year, and exactly one year ago lost 4-0 to University Prep in the first round of the State 1A playoffs.
“Last year we had to go against one of these private schools and ended up losing 4-0,” Barragan said, “so we knew it was going to be hard.”
It was the final game in the careers of United players Julian Sanchez, Santos Balbuena, Corbin Mansker, Jonathan FoaFoa, Adan Cibrian and twins David and Jonathan VanVleck.
“In 23 years of coaching, this was probably my funnest season by far,” Malunat said. “I really enjoyed it. I had a great time.”
