The Overlake School’s longtime head boys’ soccer coach, Bob Bristol, knows his team is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes time for the 1A state soccer tournament each May.

The Owls’ league, Emerald City, is the only one in the state that plays its season in the fall at the 1A level due to scheduling conflicts, but that doesn’t faze Bristol’s determined squad, many of whom play other spring sports.

“We have to look at what everyone else is doing as far as games and their practice times, and try set a time where we can get most of them together,” explained Bristol on the difficulty of coordinating practices. “For the kids that aren’t in a (spring) sport, we may have a practice at 5:30, and the kids that are will join us at about 6:30. Since they’ve already been at a practice, we have to keep those practices fairly short, since they’ve got academic requirements too.”

Although his kids are often running drills for over three hours each day, Bristol says that it’s their work ethic and love for the game that fuels the fire.

“They are incredibly motivated. This senior class has enjoyed a lot of success in a lot of sports, but for them, this is their last time,” he said, adding that he has 11 rostered seniors on his team. “They come to practices and they have a great time, they’re very excited to be there again. They just love playing together, and the fact that they get more games is a plus for them, to keep that feeling alive.”

Back in the fall, the Owls reeled off an unbeaten 16-0-1 season en route to an Emerald City League championship.

Coming back to action six months later, they have not allowed a goal in two state wins, a 4-0 rout of Coupeville on May 18, and a 2-0 shutout of Charles Wright in last Saturday’s quarterfinals, during which Jesse Klug and Dean Poplawski each scored for Overlake.

That win sets up a semifinals showdown at 4 p.m. on Friday at Sunset Chevrolet Stadium in Sumner with King’s, a team that the Owls have a history with at the big dance.

If the Owls beat King’s, they will play on Saturday at 2 p.m. for the state title, and should they lose, they will play at 10 a.m. in the 3rd/4th place finals.

Two years ago, when King’s won it all, the Owls fell to the Knights in the quarterfinals, and just last season they faced each other again, in the first round, and the Owls won in a shootout.

“They’re a very, very good team that has had an outstanding year,” Bristol said of the Knights. “Their team is a lot like ours… I think they have a lot of powerful seniors on that team as well, and they’re used to success.”

And the Knights enter the semis on a high note, having just knocked off the defending 1A state champions, White Salmon, 3-1, in last Saturday’s quarterfinals.

“They have the advantage, since they played (this spring), and played at their top level. They were at the top of their league and won the district championship.”

The Owls will also have to overcome the loss of two of their team leaders, but not from injury.

All-leaguer Trevor Partington will be playing doubles tennis at state with partner Marcus Munoz, also a starter for the Owls, in Yakima over the weekend, and both will likely miss playing in Sumner this weekend.

“We’ve got a real deep team so we’ll put people in,” Bristol said of being shorthanded. “Kids have to step up, and this will be their chance.”

Bristol, who recently had surgery on a growing brain tumor on April 26 and is still recovering, would like to thank his coaching staff for helping to prepare his team as he has been getting back to health.

“I’m doing much better now,” Bristol acknowledged. “My condition has made it real difficult, but my assistant coach Robert Forbes has stepped up to handle the practices in my absence.”