VANCOUVER — King’s Way scored early and often here on Thursday as they downed Tenino 7-0 in their 1A District IV semifinal match.
Mackenzie Ellertson notched a hat trick for King’s Way with goals in the 3rd, 28th and 29th minute and, according to Tenino coach Kevin Schultz, she seemed to be in the middle of everything all night long.
“We didn’t play terrible. We did the things that we wanted to do but we didn’t finish very well,” said Schultz. “It was just like every time we got pressure on them that girl (Ellertson) made a play, whether it was scoring herself or setting up one of her teammates. That was the difference in the game.”
Schultz noted that Ellerston is the daughter of King’s Way coach Tina Ellertson. The younger Ellerstson is a Washington State University soccer commit while the elder Ellerston played on the USA World Cup team back in the aughts.
“I was able to find a little bit of film on them but not a lot,” said Schultz. “We knew they were pretty good. I think they’ve won the district title the last three years…They are a really well coached team.”
For King’s Way Lucy Mohamadi added a goal in the 12th minute, Annabelle Atwood scored a goal in the 51st minute, and Kate Roseburrough scored goals in the 31st and 47th minutes.
In the face of the lopsided loss Schultz remained confident that his team will be able to regain their bearings in time to clinch a berth to the state tournament.
“We’ve just been talking about enjoying this experience all along the way and our goal has always been to make state and we can still do that if we take care of the business,” said Schultz.
Tenino will play Elma for third place in districts and the final berth to state on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Montesano. The Beavers have bested Elma both times they faced off this season with a 3-1 win on Sept. 24 and a 4-3 victory on Oct. 11.
