State 2B Girls Soccer: Adna Finishes Fourth at State

SUMNER — Adna’s season came to an end here on Saturday, with a 2-0 loss to Brewster in the third-place game of the State 1B/2B Girls Soccer Tournament.

And while the fourth-place finish wasn’t the ending the team would have liked, the Lady Pirates had plenty of accomplishments over the course of the season, including a fifth-straight trip to the state’s final four.

“Coming into this, we’re always unsure what the next year is going to be like when you lose seniors every year and you have to recalibrate for that,” Adna coach Juli Aselton said. “We were real pleased with our performance to get here to the final four, and all the teams here are good. They wouldn’t be here if they weren’t. Again, good matchup, we wish it would have ended a little bit differently but top four is still really good for us.”

The Bears on the board in the 22nd minute on a goal from Marlissa Garcia for a 1-0 lead at halftime.

Adna fought to get a tying goal in the second half, mixing up formations and moving players around in an attempt to score. Adna goalkeeper Makaela Meister suffered an injury late in the game and was forced to come out, and the Bears capitalized with a goal in the 75th minute by Yalina Vargas that sealed the win.

“I think they left a lot out on the field last night,” Aselton said, referring to the Pirates’ semifinal loss to eventual state champion Life Christian.

“While they were pumped up this morning, their body showed something a little bit different on the field,” Aselton said. “At halftime, we talked about picking each other up knowing there’s 40 minutes left and they’re going to be sore tomorrow. Can we still try to pick up our speed a little bit, and for the most part they did. They were subbing in and out for people and trying hard.”

Adna finished the season with a 16-4 record, losing two regular season games and the last two playoff games.

The Pirates won 10 straight games after an opening-day loss to Walla Walla, and also had a big comeback win against Life Christian in the District 4 championship game, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in a shootout.

It was the final game in the prep careers of Lizet Rosas, Lizzy McAuley, Abigail Kruger, Gwen Wilson and Jenikka Poppe. Poppe had her season end early due to injury and Kruger was bothered by an injury late in the season, although Kruger was able to sub in late in the game against Brewster to see the field one last time.

“It definitely hurt for our two senior defenders to be out but they always pump up the younger ones and try to keep them going and try to help them,” Aselton said. “It’s hard for them not to be able to play in the game, some of our seniors. We made sure everyone got in here in the game. They’re sad to be done but most of them are real happy with how the season went. The fact that they got to play and they’re on a championship, top four team.”

There’s plenty of talent returning to the lineup for Adna, with Meister, Central 2B League MVP Payton Aselton and All-League forward Cierra Swenson all returning after picking up plenty of experience as sophomores.

“I think some of the girls are already looking forward to next year because we’ve got a great sophomore class. We’re still young, mix in with that some of the girls that are going to be seniors next year, and then our freshman class coming up,” Aselton said. “It’s been great still having talent coming through knowing that a couple years ago we didn’t have a team. The fact that girls are so interested and want to play for us gives us a lot of talent, so that’s nice.”