By CASEY OLSON, The Mirror

The Todd Beamer girls soccer team’s first-ever state appearance is still alive and kicking.

The Titans avenged their only loss of the season Friday night to advance into the Class 4A state semifinals.

Beamer (19-1-0) defeated the Kentwood Conquerors, 1-0, after winning a 4-2 shootout on a rain-soaked French Field in Kent in the state quarterfinals.

The Titans will take on the defending state champion Woodinville Falcons at 8 p.m. Friday at Harry E. Lang Stadium in Lakewood. The Class 4A state championship game will be played at 8 p.m. Saturday. The third-fourth match will be at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Woodinville has won 10 of its past 11 matches, including a 1-0 win over Snohomish in its state quarterfinal game Friday night.

But Beamer will be riding the momentum of the emotional shootout victory over Kentwood.

Kentwood junior midfielder Jolene Crook-Meyers shot first, scoring to the lower right, and Beamer’s Jordan Salisbury matched her, scoring to the lower right.

Kentwood’s Kristen Drobny was next, and buried her shot to the lower left of Kurnik to give the Conquerors a 2-1 advantage. Then things got a little crazy and dramatic.

Beamer’s leading scorer, sophomore Holland Crook, had her shot stopped by Kentwood goalkeeper Courtney Johnson, but the referee waved it off, ruling that Johnson had stepped off the line before Crook had made contact with the ball.

Crook got another chance, and she went the opposite direction into the lower left corner of the goal, and converted to make it 2-2.

Then it was all Kurnik after that. Kurnik stopped two consecutive Kentwood shots, while teammates Nicole Peterson and Brittany Orr converted their chances to give Titans the 4-2 decision. Orr, who didn’t seemed fazed before converting on the final kick, placed the ball in the lower left corner of the net, out of the reach of Johnson.

Orr’s kick set off a big-time celebration among the team and its numerous fans in the French Field bleachers. Beamer players mobbed both Orr and Kurnik in front of the goal. Fans lined the fence and were immediately greeted by high-fives and hugs from the players.

“That was unbelievable,” Kurnik said. “I was nervous. But it was a good kind of nervous.”

Despite being a 0-0 tie through the 40-minute regulation period and the two five-minute overtime sessions, the game was extremely competitive. Both teams had some chances to get on the scoreboard. The Titans controlled more of the possession, but Johnson made a couple of diving saves and Beamer had two more sail over the goal.

Beamer’s best shot at finding the back of the net came at the 11-minute mark of the first half. The Titans had back-to-back shots by Holland and Jordan Crook. But Johnson turned back both of them, including a diving save on Jordan Crook’s chance from in front of the goal.

“As far as everything goes, I don’t like games ending in a shootout,” said Beamer head coach Carrie Hentschell. “But my keeper made two saves, so good for her. She’s very deserving.”

Kentwood (14-2-3) had to play most of the match without senior captain Abby Brauer, who received her second yellow card in the 35th minute.

Friday’s matchup with the Conquerors offered the Titans a little bit of revenge. Kentwood handed Beamer its only loss of the season in the South Puget Sound League Championship game. The North Division champion Conquerors downed the Titans, 2-1, to claim the league’s No. 1 seed into the postseason.

The loss to Kentwood was the only time this season that a team had scored more than one goal on the Titans’ defense. Beamer has dominated all season by outscoring its opponents 76-6 with 15 shutouts.

Woodinville brings a pretty impressive girls soccer resume into Friday night’s game. The Falcons rolled to the 2006 Class 4A state title and return plenty of players from that team. So the bigger crowds and pressure of this weekend’s Final Four tournament shouldn’t phase Woodinville.

The Falcons’ offense is led by the impressive foursome of Stine Schoening, Heather Thomas, Erin McDevitt and Danielle Hollister.

Schoening is Woodinville’s leading point scorer this season with 12 goals and eight assists from her forward position. Thomas leads the Falcons in goals with 14, including a hat trick during the Falcon’s first-round state tournament win over Stadium on Nov. 6. McDevitt and Hollister are Woodinville’s main playmakers from the midfield. McDevitt dished out 11 assists during the year and Hollister tallied eight goals and six assists.

The Falcons also have plenty of depth. In total, Woodinville has had 14 different players score at least one goal during the season and 11 of them have at least two.

But Woodinville is no where near invincible. The Falcons finished up in second place in the KingCo Conference Mountain Division behind Redmond with a 7-3-0 record before reeling off five-straight wins during the postseason. They lost a 6-0 match to Eastlake, who plays Richland at 6 p.m. in the other semifinal Friday night, on Oct. 4. The 6-0 loss is pretty much equivalent to losing a football game 42-0.

The Titans will be again leaning on the offense of Holland Crook, Orr, Megan Miller and Jordan Salisbury. Crook has tallied 18 goals this season from her forward position and Orr has 15 goals and seven assists from the midfield. Miller has nine goals and nine assists and Salisbury has converted on 10 goals. Friday’s win over Kentwood was also Kurnik’s 14th shutout of the season.

Beamer is attempting to become the fourth Federal Way school district high school to hang a state soccer championship banner inside their gymnasium. Decatur, Jefferson and Federal Way high schools have won multiple state titles.

Federal Way has won three state championships on the girls’ side in 1986, 1991 and 1992. Jefferson has won a state-record seven state championships on the boys’ side (1983-88, 1988, 1994 and 2005) and won the girls state title in 1989. The Decatur boys won back-to-back titles in 2001 and ‘02.

Sports editor Casey Olson: 925-5565, sports@fedwaymirror.com