Thomas Jefferson High School won the state soccer championship just two years ago. A year later they found themselves missing the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Now the team is young and hungry to get back to the state playoffs. A school with a rich soccer tradition such as theirs never stays down too long.
In their way on Tuesday night stood a Beamer team eager to prove their worth in the South Puget Sound League Northwest division. They sported a 1-1-0 record coming into the game.
Jefferson had a 1-1-1 record coming into the game. They suffered a 3-0 loss in their previous game against Mount Rainier, while Beamer had a 3-0 win against Lincoln.
Early in the game, Beamer dominated possession and created a few chances. As the first half went on, the Raiders settled down and possession began to even out.
Both keepers — junior Omar Duenas of Beamer and junior Hunter Bowman — were solid early, stopping multiple shots and disrupting breakaway chances.
Jefferson had a few early chances called offsides.
Set pieces ended up being key in the game for both teams. In the 40th minute, the Titans would finally break through on a free kick by junior midfielder, Christian Guzman, from 24 yards out. The kick sailed over the four-man Thomas Jefferson High School wall and past a diving Bowman.
Beamer would take the 1-0 lead into the half.
The second half saw more physical play from both sides, which kept the play closer to midfield.
In the 55th minute, Jefferson scored its first goal on a free kick by junior Justin Yoon from 28 yards out that beat Duenas.
Nick Hall, a junior for Thomas Jefferson, almost got his head to the ball on the kick, but missing it turned out to be beneficial.
As the game wound down to the final 10 minutes, both teams struggled to find enough room to shoot.
After forcing Beamer to play the ball out of bounds to stop the pressure, Jefferson was awarded possession just outside the box.
On the ensuing throw in, Raiders sophomore Jose Ramirez found his way to the ball and headed into the top right corner to take a 2-1 lead and complete the comeback.
“I just knew he was going to throw it over and I needed to be back there to head it in,” said Ramirez of his goal. “It felt good. It felt really, really good.”
The Titans increased their attack in the final minutes, but it was to no avail. They earned a couple late corner kicks, but could not capitalize.
Jefferson earned the 2-1 victory and begins conference play with a win.
“It was a good win for the guys, we’ve been struggling,” says Raiders head coach Dave Hanson. “We’re trying to get them to get that Thomas Jefferson fight, because every game is going to be a war.”
Though they were disappointed with the late goal, Todd Beamer head coach Brett Lucas was able to take one positive away from the game.
“We’re just as good as TJ,” Lucas said. “We need to work harder at practice and figure some things out.”
Beamer fell to 1-2-0 overall and 0-1-0 in conference play on the season. Jefferson is 2-1-1 overall on the season and 1-0-0 in conference play.
Beamer will face Federal Way at 5:30 p.m. tonight at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. Jefferson’s next game will be against Decatur at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.
