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Camas can’t rally from pair of early goals

Bid to repeat as state champs ends with 3-1 loss

By Meg Wochnick, Columbian staff writer
Published: November 18, 2017, 12:24am

PUYALLUP — The deficit wasn’t too much to overcome for the Camas girls soccer team.

Not with three-fourths of a game still remaining, not with as powerful of a counter attack like the Papermakers have.

Yet two first-half goals surrendered in a 3-minute span and trailing by two goals for much of the game kept Camas from advancing to defend its state title. The Papermakers lost 3-1 to Issaquah in Friday’s Class 4A state semifinal at Sparks Stadium.

Call it unlucky, perhaps, but it’s another defeat in the state semifinals to the same program that’s been a thorn in Camas’ side in recent memory. In 2012, Issaquah topped Camas, 2-1, with an overtime goal, and two years ago, Issaquah handed Camas a shootout loss after a scoreless regulation and two overtimes on its way to winning the 4A state title in 2015. Camas finished third that year.

That’s what the Papermakers can hope now, too, on Saturday when they face Kennedy Catholic of Burien at noon in the third/fourth-place game back at Sparks Stadium.

The quick, frenzy pace by Issaquah surprised Camas (18-3-2 overall) early, and it was a sign of things to come. Camas goalkeeper Falissitie DePasquale made two diving saves on the Eagles’ two shots on goal in the opening 5 minutes before Issaquah’s (19-2) first two goals in the 14th and 16th minutes by Mariah Van Halm and Kate Wilkinson. Camas’ 2-0 deficit at halftime was the first time it trailed by multiple goals since a 4-0 defeat against Oregon’s 6A Jesuit on Sept. 23 when it also trailed 2-0 at halftime.

“They came out with a really high intensity and we really weren’t prepared for that,” junior striker Jazzy Paulson said. “I think that’s what our big problem was — we weren’t clicking in the beginning. We clicked right after those two goals.”

Paulson and Maddie Kemp had accounted for all six of Camas’ first-half shots. It finished with 13, and when Kemp’s goal in the 53rd minute — her 41st of the season — cut the deficit to 2-1. But Catey Nelson’s blast from 40 yards out hit under the crossbar and out of the reach of DePasquale (seven total saves), who put the Eagles on top again by two goals at 3-1 in the 71st minute.

Issaquah faces Central Valley for the 4A state title at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Despite the loss, there’s still a trophy to played for Saturday, and that’s what coach Roland Minder stressed to his players postgame. They’re confident in reevaluating their goals quickly and striving for its second third-place trophy in three seasons. and striving for

“Everyone will pick each other up and keep our heads up,” Paulson said.

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