Home cooking has been very good for the Todd Beamer Titans girls soccer team. The third-ranked Titans remained unbeaten this year at Federal Way Memorial Stadium by dispatching the Issaquah Eagles, 4-0, Wednesday night in the first-round of the Class 4A Girls Soccer State Tournament.
“It was great with our crowd and all these people here,” said junior striker Jenny Hoefel, who tallied two of the Titans’ goals. “The seniors also didn’t want this to be their last game.”
Beamer (15-1-3) will now travel to Roy Anderson Field in Purdy Saturday, Nov. 12, to take on the Gig Harbor Tides in the state quarterfinals. Gig Harbor (13-3-1) erupted for four second-half goals in a 5-1 win at Edmonds-Woodway Tuesday.
“The Gig Harbor win was kind of unexpected over Edmonds-Woodway,” said Beamer head coach Joel Lindberg. “It’s going to be a good match.”
The win over Issaquah was the Titans’ second in a row after dropping their only match of the year to Kentwood, 1-0, in the South Puget Sound League championship.
“I think that loss made us stronger,” Hoefel said. “It taught us that there are teams out there that can beat us and we can still improve. I think this was definitely an improvement.”
Beamer dominated from the opening kickoff Wednesday against Issaquah. The Titans had several good shots before Hoefel used her blazing speed to break free behind the Eagle defense and hit the ball into the back of the net in the 11th minute.
Beamer’s next goal came with just 4:21 left until halftime. Senior defender Autumn Talney converted a penalty kick for the 2-0 lead. The kick was set up when Titan senior Breanna Straus was brought down deep in the penalty area as the ball was rolling out of bounds.
Hoefel tallied her second goal of the night on a perfect centering pass from Jenna Floyd for a 3-0 lead with 24:16 remaining in the game. And Straus finalized the score when she beat a pair of Issaquah defenders and uncorked a right foot past the goalkeeper with 6:50 left.
“I have no issue with the girls’ intensity tonight,” Lindberg said. “They came out fired up.”
Senior goalkeeper Meghan Graf made six saves to earn her 12th shutout of the season for the Titans.
“I think we just came out and payed with the most intensity we could,” Hoefel said.
The Titans are in their third trip to state. Beamer lost in the state title match to Eastlake, 2-1, in a shootout in 2007 and lost in the quarterfinals in 2009 to Skyline 1-0.
Everett 1, Decatur 0
The surprising Gators’ run finally came to an end Wednesday night with the loss to the Seagulls in the first round of the Class 3A State Girls Soccer Tournament at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.
After finishing in fourth place in the South Puget Sound League 3A Division, Decatur (10-8-0) knocked off Kennedy Catholic and Capital in their opening two postseason games. The two teams combined to beat the Gators 9-0 during a pair of early-season contests.
But Everett (18-1-1) was just too much for Decatur Wednesday night. Bailey McMullen tallied the only goal of the match just 11:14 into the first half. McMullen burst through the center of the Gator defense and outran a defender, beating goalkeeper Ericka Budinich on the left side with a bullet shot. It was McMullen’s 14th goal of the season.
The Decatur offense, led by Ashley Graves, did have some chances, especially during the second half. The Gators peppered Everett goalkeeper CJ Shaver with 10 shots on goal.
