Improbable does not mean impossible.
The Evergreen Plainsmen, who trailed by three goals twice Saturday, kept attacking — and kept scoring.
A five-goal outburst in the final 43 minutes of their Class 4A bi-district boys soccer playoff match against Eastlake gave the Plainsmen a 5-4 overtime victory.
“To come back and win like this is incredible,” said senior Kyle Bliquez, who scored the game-winner just minutes into sudden-death overtime. “This is my first high school goal. It came at a pretty good time.”
It was an unlikely goal scorer perhaps, but that was fitting with such an unlikely finish.
Septi Danciu scored two goals and assisted on two others, and Jacob Gulliford’s precise throw-ins led to the final two Evergreen goals.
“We didn’t care about the score. We just kept playing,” Danciu said. “The game’s not over until that last whistle. We worked hard.”
Evergreen will host Todd Beamer of Federal Way in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament at 7 p.m. Tuesday at McKenzie Stadium.
Evergreen trailed 3-0 at the half and 4-1 with about 30 minutes left in the match. Then, after the Plainsmen quickly got it to a one-goal contest, all of the next breaks went Eastlake’s way. Danciu had a good look that just missed wide by a foot or two. Moments later, he hit the left post. There was another near-miss, and time was not on Evergreen’s side.
But with about five minutes remaining, Gulliford’s throw-in from the left side, at roughly the 20-yard line at McKenzie, was right on goal. The ball sailed high toward Eastlake’s goalkeeper, who tried to make a leaping, two-handed catch. The ball ricocheted off his hands and went into the net.
Officially, it is an own goal because a goal cannot be awarded to a player throwing in the ball. Make no mistake, though: Gulliford made it happen.
Then he did it again in overtime, from about 25 yards out along the right sideline. Another deep throw-in ended up right in front of the net. Danciu got a foot on the ball, tapped it to Bliquez, who was true, aiming toward the left side of the net.
“I’ve actually increased my throw-ins, about twice as far from last year,” Gulliford said. “It’s a thrill to be able to throw it that far. I worry about getting it in there, and I know my guys will take care of it once I do.”
Eastlake got three goals from Nick Rudella in the first half. And while 3-0 might look like a blowout in soccer, this one did not have that feel. Evergreen had its opportunities, and it was a 1-0 match until the final three minutes of the half.
“We just didn’t finish our chances,” Evergreen coach Keenan Burris said. “In the first half, we were all over them.”
The tide turned early in the second half. An aggressive move by Danciu led to a penalty kick. His initial shot was blocked, but he converted on the rebound to make it 3-1.
A minute later, Eastlake scored again.
From there, it was all Evergreen.
Cody Camp received a perfect pass from Danciu, then slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 4-2 at the 54th minute.
Four minutes later, Gulliford set up Danciu for a header from point-blank range. Gulliford made a couple of moves down the right side, but the ball appeared to be heading out of play. Gulliford hustled, stopped the ball on the end line, then lobbed a pass high to Danciu for the goal.
“I used everything I could to get to that ball,” Gulliford said.
All of the Plainsmen could say the same thing about their effort Saturday.
“I think they put it in cruise control,” Burris said of the Wolves. “They thought we wouldn’t battle. We scored five goals in 43 minutes. Pretty freakin’ amazing.”
