State 2B Girls Soccer: Pirates Hoping For Final Four Breakthrough

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Adna is back in a familiar spot in the State 2B girls soccer semifinals, taking on Kalama at 4 p.m. at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.

This time, the Pirates are hoping to buck a trend and do something they haven’t done the last five seasons: Make it to the championship game.

“This is a different route to state then we’ve had before. Kalama, now they have beat us, I feel like they have something to lose and we have something to gain,” Adna coach Juli Aselton said. “We’re working really hard because we want to show that we can beat Kalama and play really well.”

Starting in 2013, the Pirates have reached the semifinals every year, and have lost each time. In 2013, Adna lost 7-6 to Crosspoint Academy, followed by a 1-0 loss to Liberty Bell to finish fourth.

In 2014, Crosspoint Academy had the Pirates number again in a 4-0 win in the semifinals, but this time the Pirates won 1-0 in the third place game over Friday Harbor.

Fast forward to 2015 as the Pirates fell 2-1 to Okanogan. Adna rebounded big time with a 6-0 win in the third place game against La Conner.

Last season, Life Christian defeated Adna in a shootout en route to the state title, while the Pirates fell 2-0 in the third place game to Brewster.

“I think we learn a little bit each year. While every year is upsetting when we don’t make it there, it’s more relaxed because we’ve been here. It’s not the end of the world,” Aselton said. “Life still goes on and there are other things than winning the state champion. It’s not a new rodeo to us so that’s helpful.”

Adna has a history with the Chinooks not only this season, but in the state semifinals.

In 2016, the Pirates and Chinooks clashed in the semifinals. Kalama won 1-0 in a shootout, but fell to St. George’s in the championship game. Adna was able to bounce back the next day with a 1-0 win over Liberty Bell to earn third place.



With the history between the two teams, a rivalry has formed in the past few years between the Pirates and Chinooks.

“It’s a little bit of both. We do have a rivalry. They came down from the bigger schools and we’re still trying to manage to handle them. They’ve got good coaches and skills, there’s a lot of respect for their good players,” Aselton said. “We know they’re hard working girls. We can’t help but respect those girls, they make us work hard and that’s how we can get better.”

There are some players on this year’s squad that were on that 2016 team and hope that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Adna will need to correct their mistakes from their only loss this season, a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Kalama in the district championship game.

The Pirates came up with the team mantra during the playoffs of ‘Strong alone, together unstoppable’, and that mantra appeared to help Adna in a 1-0 win over Friday Harbor in the state quarterfinals. Adna hopes it will continue to fuel the team in these final two games.

“We have a lot of strong girls who have done a lot of great things. If we pull ourselves together and we’re supporting each other, we’re kind of unstoppable,” Aselton said. “We’re remembering that if we’re struggling on the field. Individually, if we’re having a bad game and we’re not giving the support. We’re working on the difference between the two.”

The Pirates were informed in their quarterfinal game about having to cut their roster down to 22 players. Although not everyone will be allowed to be on the bench, Aselton noted that everyone included on the team will be making the trip to Sumner and will help support the team when they take the field.

The biggest focus on Friday will be earning the win to get into the state championship game, a win that the Pirates are hungry for after the last five seasons of coming close.

“I know there’s some seniors that have been through this with us for the whole journey. They would love to have this in their pockets. It means a lot to come back again and keep fighting,” Aselton said. “Every year, it’s meant a ton. It always means more so to the seniors than anybody else. I think we’re trying to get that mentality of stay focused on the game, don’t get in your heads, stay in the moment and we’ll see how it comes out at the end of the game.”