Tuesday's Boys Soccer: Barragan Records Hat Trick to Lead United to State Victory Over Colville

WINLOCK — After two seasons of falling in the opening round of the 1A State Boys Soccer tournament, United took the monkey off their back and kicked it into the net here on Tuesday.

Gustavo Barragan recorded a hat trick and United earned a 4-0 win over Colville for the Toledo/Winlock combo squad’s first state victory in program history.

“It’s above my expectation. I just wanted to win 1-0 or whatever, 2-1, but I think we had a lot of opportunities,” United coach Horst Malunat said. “If you were at the La Center game, it was a 180 as far as our play, our hustle. This is how I want us to play every game. I don’t have a lot of expressions except for they did great.”

United moves into the quarterfinals to face the winner of Wahluke-Bridgeport at a date, time and location to be determined.

“It feels great because the last two years, we’ve always lost in front of our fans. We win districts and then end up losing to a team from Seattle that’s a private school,” Barragan said. “Our defense played great, our offense played great. We struggled in the beginning but we ended up scoring three more goals in the second half so we were pretty comfortable with the win.”

Alan Contreras recorded a clean sheet with five saves in the win.

“It feels great because throughout all of our practices, we were talking about how we need to come in motivated and we need to work hard and just do what we need to do,” Contreras said. “It just feels great getting the win.”

The game was dominated by United as the combo squad held possession throughout most of the game and outshot Colville 19-5. United had 11 corner kicks compared to just two for the Indians.

“They were some athletes over there and they were dangerous most of the game. They just didn’t get that goal and we had a few crossbars and posts too,” Malunat said. “That keeper did a pretty good job and it could have been even more.”

Barragan opened the scoring in the 6th minute. Andreas Malunat passed it to Barragan who scored for a 1-0 lead at halftime.

“It felt great because we haven’t scored in forever, since 1995 or something,” Barragan said about his first goal. “So when I scored that goal, it just felt amazing.”

Even with the lead at the break, there was no slowing down for United.

“I told the guys at halftime when it’s 1-0, you cannot let them breathe or even think they have a chance in the game,” Malunat said. “I think after the second one, they’re starting to get deflated and after the third one, you could see that we were starting to take over.”

The combo squad continued to push and increased the lead to 2-0 in the 50th minute. Isaac Garibay found Barragan, who drew the keeper out of the net, dribbled around the keeper and fired it into a wide open net.

Barragan completed the hat trick in the 59th minute, with Isaac Cruz kicking the ball into the box and Barragan cleaning up a loose ball for a 3-0 lead.

The final goal of the game was scored in the 61st minute as Andreas Malunat buried a shot on an assist from Nicholas Patching.

Even with a 4-0 win, United knows they can still be better in their quarterfinal game.

“I think we’ve got to communicate more and be more nice to each other when we make mistakes and cheer each other up,” Barragan said.

Regardless of who they end up playing, a bus ride over the mountains will be required, and United is excited about a road trip with teammates.

“We like to hang out with each other a lot,” Barragan said. “Hopefully, we get a hotel so we can spend the night and just have fun.”