Aside from a five minute stretch, the W.F. West girls soccer team kept up with 2A Evergreen Conference-leading counterparts for most of the night. But that five minute stretch in the first half spelled doom for the Bearcats in a 3-0 defeat to Tumwater Thursday night up north.
“We honestly played one of our better games as a team tonight,” Bearcats coach Allen Anderson said. “We had a bad two minutes where we got called for a couple of fouls where they got a PK and a free kick that they scored. You take away a couple of those mistakes and we really held our own.”
That stretch started up in the 12th minute, when Kayla Pope punched in a free kick, and just a minute later, Pope got another opportunity on a penalty kick and drilled it to make it 2-0.
Then in the 17th, Ava Jones scored to put the Thunderbirds ahead 3-0. After that, the teams battled back and forth with no more scores.
“I’m really proud of the girls and the effort they put in tonight, especially going up there and playing on the turf,” Anderson said. “They adjusted to the speed of the play quickly tonight, which was nice.”
Anderson credited Staysha Fluetsch with a strong game in the net, as the senior finished with nine saves from the strong T-Bird attack. Anderson also acknowledged Brielle Etter for some strong defensive play on the outside.
The Bearcats will play next against rival Centralia in the Chronicle Cup next Tuesday in Chehalis for Senior Night.
