Email This   Larger Font      Print This   Smaller Font Advertisement   Mountain View 2, Evergreen 0 The goals: Trevor Tangen and Guilherme Almeida scored in the second half to lift league champion Mountain View to the district title. What it means: The Thunder qualify for the Class 4A state tournament and will host a first-round match, most likely next Tuesday. The site for that match has not been determined. Evergreen must win twice to reach state. The Plainsmen will battle Skyview for the district’s second position on Thursday in Battle Ground. The winner of that match will host a bi-district playoff game on Saturday.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008
By Paul Danzer Columbian Staff Writer

BATTLE GROUND — Strength in the midfield allowed the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League regular season champions to control much of Tuesday’s district championship soccer match.

And in the second half, two of the reasons Mountain View rose to the top of the league this spring made sure the Thunder also claimed the district title.

Trevor Tangen converted a rebound goal in the 46th minute and Guilherme Almeida scored with two minutes left as the Thunder beat Evergreen in the District 4 boys soccer championship match at Battle Ground’s District Stadium.

“It was good timing, great position and it worked for us in the end,” Tangen said.

He was discribing his goal, which started from a long throw-in by Brendan Greenen that produced a shot by Sujinda Dangvan that crashed off the crossbar. Tangen pounced on the rebound for the score.

Tangen, who played sparingly as a junior for the Thunder, is one of 12 seniors on a Mountain View squad that entered the season as a mystery team of sorts and became the class of the league.

And, as Thursday demonstrated, it was no fluke.

Many of these Thunder players were teammates on a Columbia Premier Soccer Club team that won the state championship for club soccer in March. Their physical presence and strength in the midfield is difficult for opponents to match.

That midfield includes three players who can break down defenders going forward in Javier Macias, Dangvan and Almeida, who are supported by the defensive-minded Kurt Stalsberg.

Almeida, a Brazilian exchange student, used his persistence on the ball to power past three Evergreen defenders for the clincher with two minutes left.

“I thought they played well in the midfield,” Evergreen coach Keenan Burris said. “Their strength is their midfield and our weakness is our midfield.”

That difference was especially pronounced during the first 40-minute half.  Mountain View carried the play, creating five scoring chances to only one for Evergreen.

Despite falling behind early in the second half, the Plainsmen were more assertive and more dangerous on the counter-attack in the second half. Among their five scoring chances were several runs into the penalty area by skilled sophomore Septi Damciu.

“I thought he was going to get one of those where he gets in behind us,” Mountain View coach Troy Sletten said. “It’s nerve-racking.”

The best chance for the Plainsmen came with seven minutes remaining when Rafael Contreras had a close range header that went right at Thunder goalkeeper Kyle Humphrey.

But this was Mountain View’s night — and deservedly so.

“Our chemistry is so strong,” Tangen said. “We go out there and play our hearts out, and it’s tough to beat us.”

He will not get an argument from Burris, whose team now must win twice to reach state.

“We’re learning. We’re growing,” Burris said. “We competed from the start. I thought physically (Mountain View) was just a step above us right now.”

On Tuesday, that step meant a berth in the state tournament.

Skyview 2, Prairie 1 — Mikael Wingate-Pearce and Bryce Church scored to lift the Storm to the win over the Falcons in Tuesday’s loser-out match. Skyview will play Evergreen at 7 p.m. Thursday at Battle Ground District Stadiaum.

Mirza Ramic scored for Prairie, which put on late-game pressure in an effort to rally from a 2-0 deficit.