Squalicum girls soccer traveled to Sehome High School Thursday, Oct. 24 to face a Mariners squad that came in as clear favorites in the matchup. However, the Storm and Mariners left the field with a 1-1 draw.
“It was really exciting,” Squalicum’s Ava Simons said. “We knew we were the underdogs and having this opportunity after losing last year was exciting.”
Sehome dominated the possession in the attacking third but struggled to score against Squalicum’s defense. In the sixth minute, Kylie Ivcevic had the first breakaway opportunity against Squalicum’s goalie Kailana Perez. Perez made the sliding tackle and kept the game scoreless.
Squalicum had a pair of chances from a through ball to Siri Hoglin and a corner kick that deflected for a corner kick. Although the Storm did not capitalize on those chances, they responded seconds later when Simons scored with her left foot on a short pass from the corner kick to make it 1-0.
The Mariners had an opportunity when three strikes slipped through Squalicum’s defense and had a chance against Perez. Sehome’s Vivian Moss dribbled into the box and forced Perez to make another sliding tackle. Sehome immediately fired on the open net seconds later but Perez regathered herself and made the diving save.
“It was really stressful when we went down in the first half,” Ivcevic said. “After we got that goal, the momentum switched and everyone was ready and we had a really good second half.”
Ivcevic finally found the back of the net in the 55th minute when she fired a shot off a deflection from a corner kick.
“I was a little bit worried because the first touch was slow but then I saw someone running at me and I hit it as hard as I could,” Ivcevic said.
Sehome kept its foot on the pedal until the final seconds. As the referee was putting the whistle in his mouth, Ivcevic had an open header in front of the goal miss wide left and the match concluded.
“We need to keep the momentum up and get more balls up the field,” Ivcevic said. “We need to connect more in the final third.”
Sehome finished the regular season 11-1-3 in the Northwest Conference and now prepare for district playoffs starting Oct. 29. Squalicum (9-5-1) will be in the same situation.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
