The ball landed just outside the penalty area and bounced off the artificial turf some 10 yards into the air. A scrum followed as Aberdeen’s goalkeeper, two defenders and Ridgefield’s Austin Jeffries all converged on the ball.
The ball bounced of the goalkeeper’s hand to Hauser, who kicked the ball into the unguarded goal from 10 yards away.
“I was just trying to follow it up,” Hauser said. “I knew Austin was going to give it everything he had. Luckily, he caused some havoc and the goalkeeper coughed it up. I just put it away.”
2A Greater St. Helens League champion Ridgefield (12-5, 10-2) was given a tough test by Aberdeen. The No. 4 seed from the Evergreen Conference needed to win a play-in match Thursday just to make districts.
As Aberdeen chilled in the grandstand’s shade during halftime, Ridgefield stayed on the sideline as the temperature neared 80 degrees.
“At halftime, we just tried to pick up the intensity,” Hauser said. “I took both the captains over and said ‘We’re looking pretty tired. We need to pick up the intensity and it will probably be contagious.'”
Hauser was right. Ridgefield built pressure and momentum throughout the second half. With 20 minutes to play, Hauser was stopped at point-blank range by the goalkeeper Alexis Garcia.
But Aberdeen had chances as well. Moloney made two nice saves inside the final 15 minutes.
But the goalkeeper’s most crucial play was the booming kick that helped move Ridgefield within one step of the state tournament.
HOCKINSON 4, CENTRALIA 0 — Mitchell Pinney’s hat trick led a second-half barrage as host Hockinson advanced in the 2A district tournament.
After a scoreless first half, the Hawks owned the second half to advance to the district semifinals. Hockinson will host R.A. Long on Tuesday with the winner advancing to state.
WASHOUGAL 4, TUMWATER 0 — The Panthers dominated in Tumwater as all four 2A GSHL teams in the district tournament won on Saturday.
Sam Razumovskiy scored twice, David Gonzalez had a goal and an assist, and Nick Boylan added the fourth goal for Washougal.
