WOODLAND – The Colville boys soccer team drove 437 miles from far northeast Washington for its 1A state playoff game against La Center.
But it was a 37-yard route starting at Hunter Leach’s foot that took La Center somewhere it has never been.
With less than two minutes to play, Leach scored on a 37-yard free kick to give La Center a 1-0 win Wednesday at Woodland High School.
It’s La Center’s first state playoff win in five tries. The Wildcats will travel to play Connell in the 1A quarterfinals, likely on Saturday.
With a strong wind at his back, Leach figured that any save would be tough for the goalkeeper.
“Before warmups I was hitting some shots and noticed the wind was messing with the ball a lot,” Leach said. “So I knew if I hit it right and put it on target, it was going to go in.”
The ball sailed just over Colville’s four-man wall, then stayed on a near horizontal plane as it homed in on the right side of the goal. Colville’s goalkeeper got a fingertip on the ball, but couldn’t keep it out.
Wind had swept over the field for 78 evenly matched minutes. Now, it was bedlam that swept over La Center’s players, who were two minutes from making program history.
“We were ecstatic when he got that goal,” senior defender Joseph McManus said. “It was tough for the goalkeeper, but we were so happy that he made that goal.”
La Center (14-4-2) had won eight straight before falling to Toledo-Winlock in the district title match on Saturday.
On Wednesday, the Wildcats showed a steadfast nature that limited Colville (10-3-1) to just a handful of scoring chances.
“The chemistry is there,” said Leach, a sophomore midfielder. “We play really well together. A lot of us have been playing together on club for a lot of years.”
But La Center mounted a few first-half chances despite going into the wind. Leach and Andrea Tuia each had free kicks from about 25 yards that forced saves from Colville goalkeeper Cyrus Butterfield.
Jordan Vazquez-Hunt nearly got behind Colville’s defense late in the first half. But a fast-closing defender poked the ball away just as he was about to shoot from 15 yards.
Colville also had a few first-half chances. But La Center defended four corner kicks in a 15-minute span, largely thanks to clearances by McManus.
“First half they had the wind going with them, it was really tough on defense,” McManus said. “The ball was going really far down. As soon as we switched, we brought it to them, kept on attacking and finally got that goal.”
LA CENTER 1, COLVILLE 0
Colville
Goalkeeper saves – Cyrus Butterfield 6.
La Center
Goals (assists) – Hunter Leach (unassisted). Goalkeeper saves – Sergio Sandoval 5.
Halftime – 0-0.
