CAMAS — On a day when the Camas girls soccer team was jittery around the goal, Olivia Lovell was a cool customer from distance.
Lovell scored twice on Saturday, helping lift the Papermakers into the Class 3A state tournament with a 3-0 win over Enumclaw at Doc Harris Stadium.
Camas will host Shorecrest of Shoreline at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the first round of the state tournament.
Both of Lovell’s goals were unassisted, and came from more than 25 yards away from the goal.
In the first half, the senior directed a free kick from the right side into the upper left corner of the goal. The senior finished off the win with a similar shot from 30 yards in the run of play.
Rachel Gibson also scored for Camas (13-3-1), finishing a cross from fellow sophomore Mikaela Norrish to give the Papermakers the breathing room of a two-goal lead as the second half ticked away. Norrish made a strong move to beat her defender on the left wing before finding Gibson open in front of goal.
This is the eighth year in a row Camas has qualified for the state tournament. A year ago, Lovell was among the injured Papermakers. She is glad to have one more playoff shot.
“We’re all working hard to be part of another chapter of the Camas legacy,” Lovell said.
Coach Roland Minder wishes his team was more productive around the goal, but said he is proud of the hurdles this Camas team has cleared.
“This was a different road, no question,” Minder said. “With the injuries, and with the fact that we’ve depended on a lot of young players who we had to integrate quickly.”
While Minder could celebrate the way his team overcame injuries to forward Janae Benson and goalkeeper Andrea Soderberg to reach state, Enumclaw coach Shawn Tobius could only shake his head about the injuries the Hornets have endured.
Among the list of missing Enumclaw players on Saturday were team captain Julie Curtin, a defender who injured her knee in the previous match. Then, on Saturday morning, starting goalkeeper Katie Craft tripped on a curb broke her hip. Sam Meeker, a sophomore defender, made seven saves as the Hornets’ goalkeeper at Camas.
She had no chance to stop any of the Camas goals.
Lovell said the secret to her first-half goal was aiming for the crossbar, a game her F.C. Portland club team sometimes plays.
“Whenever I try to hit the crossbar, I end up hitting a perfect ball into the goal,” Lovell said. “Whenever I get a free kick at that distance, I try to pretend I’m going to try to hit the crossbar.”
Lovell’s second goal came when she found herself with space on the right side and heard a voice telling her to shoot.
“Just before that, Minder had reminded me to be a little more selfish,” Lovell said. “I figured that the goalie, because I was on the right side, was going to be to the right of the goal, so when I shot it I tried to bend it to the left.”
