Going into Wednesday night’s Emerald City League Tournament finals at Sammamish High School against perennial powerhouse Seattle Academy, the Overlake Owls’ boys soccer team was riding a wave of confidence.

But Overlake’s nemesis Seattle Academy scored twice in the final three minutes and handed the high-flying Owls a 2-1 loss. Overlake had won five of six entering Wednesday’s game. The Owls’ only loss during that stretch: A 1-0 loss to the Cardinals back on Halloween.

Both teams will still earn a state spot as the Owls (13-4) will take district’s No. 2 seed to next spring’s state tournament. With the win, the Cardinals earned the No. 1 seed.

Overlake earned a spot in Wednesday’s league tournament finals with a 3-0 win against Bothell’s Cedar Park Christian School on Tuesday.

Overlake beat the Eagles for the third time this season, setting up Wednesday’s marquee matchup against the Cardinals, the regular-season league champions.

FULL CONTACT SOCCER

Although Wednesday’s playoff against the Cardinals wasn’t a loser-out game, both teams played with playoff-level intensity.

Multiple yellow cards were issued as players employed slide tackles and ran full-tilt for balls to gain possession on the rain-soaked, slippery turf field.

Overlake dominated possession of the ball in the first half, outshooting the Cardinals 5-1.

Twenty minutes into the game, Overlake junior forward Hakan Yagiz took a pass from Will Burgett, broke through a line of Cardinal defenders and pounded a shot past Seattle Academy goalkeeper Brian Graf into the back of the net for the Owls’ first goal.

It was only the second goal given up on the season for Graf, who led the league with 10 shutouts in 12 regular-season games.

“We knew they were very good defensively, so we wanted to spread them out as much as we could, get the ball wide,” said Overlake head coach Bob Bristol. “We got a goal early by some hard work and a nice combination by Will and Hakan.”

Three minutes into the second half, Owls’ junior midfielder Devon Schmidt nearly added to the lead as he cracked a powerful shot just over the top crossbar, drawing a gasp and a collective sigh of relief from Seattle Academy’s cheering section.

Both team’s defenses stepped up during the second half, but the fact that the Owls had played a pressure-filled match the day before was beginning to take its toll on the team. Seattle Academy was starting to control the ball and put pressure on the Owl defense as the minutes wound down.

With just over two minutes left to play, the Cardinals earned a free kick about five yards in front of the Owl goal box, and Seattle Academy forward Kyle Terrier, who led the league with 12 goals in only 11 games played, kicked a laser shot into the top corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1.

Less than a minute later Cardinal midfielder Adrian Brandon scored the game-winner on a counter-attack play to erase keeper George Dolack’s 77 minutes of fine work in goal.

“I think playing (Tuesday), we just weren’t sharp in the second half,” Bristol said. “Clearly we didn’t have much possession, I don’t know exactly what it was. We couldn’t find each other and so we were kind of on our heels a lot.”

SPRING AWAKENING

Soccer teams in the 1A Emerald City League are at a supreme disadvantage when it comes time for the state tournament, since the boys’ season is in the fall and the state tournament is held in the spring, making for a six-month layoff.

It’s something that coach Bristol has been actively trying to change, as he says it’s unfair to his kids, most of whom play sports in the spring. Not to mention the fact that the Owls enter the state stage cold while the other teams are fresh off regular-season and playoff action.

“I told the guys to take six months’ rest and be ready to go,” Bristol joked. “We’ll see what we can do. I’ll talk to Seattle Academy, we may play a practice game with them in the spring instead of going right into the state tournament.

“We’re at such a disadvantage trying to play there.”

But his team accomplished its season goal of making a return trip to state. Last year, the Owls lost to King’s in the semifinals, 2-1.

Regardless, the Owls were hoping to fend off Seattle Academy and continue their wave of confidence into the state tournament.

“It’s good (that we’re going to state), and the kids would look at it that way,” Bristol said. “But a game’s a game, you always want to win it. (Seattle Academy) beat us two out of three this year, our hat’s off to them. They played a real hard game, they never quit.”