A valiant defensive effort by The Overlake School girls’ soccer team was overshadowed by the scoring punch of Seattle Academy’s Sierra Keeler as the Owls fell, 2-1, in the 1A championship game at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup last Saturday.
Keeler, a senior who will play at Colorado College next year, scored both goals in the all-Emerald City League showdown.
She led the league in total points for the season with 27 goals and 15 assists, and scored both goals in the first half as the Owls dug themselves a hole in their first trip back to the 1A title game since 2001, when they also finished second.
“They got off to a hot start and we had to play catch up, but we knew we could do it, and we tried our best,” said Overlake head coach Sally Goodspeed. “Our game plan was just to play hard and leave it all out there. At first, we just had to believe that we could do it.”
AMAZING STOPS
The Cardinals put their high-powered offense to work right away as Keeler took a shot in the third minute that Overlake goalkeeper Ceci Votta made a great save on, one of her four first-half saves.
“Ceci steps up when she needs to and she was absolutely awesome today,” said Goodspeed on Votta’s defensive effort. “Just an incredible job in goal… some of the saves she made were spectacular.”
Seattle Academy was successful at thwarting Overlake’s defense to get some good looks, feeding the ball to Keeler time and time again as she finally scored off an assist from fellow senior Lanise Laube on her fifth attempt of the game in the 16th minute.
“I wasn’t that frustrated, it was the beginning of the game and I knew that if I kept going at it eventually one would go in,” Keeler said of her early near-misses. “You can’t just give up because the goalie makes a great save, you just have to keep going.”
When Keeler scored again in the 30th minute, unassisted, the Owls had to dig deep and find a way to get back in the match.
They did just that in the closing minutes of the half as senior Allison Risa notched her team-leading 20th goal of the season off Adrianna Gildner’s assist. The Owls very nearly tied the game up near halftime as junior midfielder Emily Kelly pounded a shot that got smothered by Cardinals’ keeper Talia Shulman, who finished tied with Votta for the league lead with nine shutouts.
The Owls fought back hard in the second half to outshoot Seattle Academy, 6-3, while also limiting Keeler’s effectiveness, but were never able to score the equalizer.
“We came back, had one, and certainly had our chances to tie it up,” Goodspeed noted. “I’m proud of the way we played, right down to the wire. It was a close game and I felt like it could have gone either way.”
AN INCREDIBLE RUN
Coach Goodspeed knew that she had a special squad from day one of tryouts, and that they had the potential to reach the title game if they just worked hard, let their natural talent shine and didn’t get in their own way.
In the end, it’s safe to say the 2009 Owls exceeded expectations.
“I’m so proud of them, they wanted this from day one, and they got themselves here,” Goodspeed said. “It’s absolutely incredible. I’m proud of how hard they worked to do it, and proud of the way they played all year.”
The Owls’ efforts translated into not only a memorable season but five all-league selections, including three, Votta, Risa and fellow senior Maya Marder making the first team. The Phillips sisters, senior Courtney and freshman Quinn, who earned the league’s Rookie of the Year Award, were named to the second team.
“They are a special group of seniors,” beamed Goodspeed when asked about the role of her upperclassmen. “We have a great team, but it was their leadership, it was them and their drive to get to this game and be in this game. That is why we were here.”
The Owls finished with a record of 17-2-3.
