CAMAS – The Camas girls soccer team was still searching for its first goal Wednesday night when one of the Papermakers’ top scorers went down with an injury in the first half.
“I rolled my ankle in the Curtis game (on Oct. 30) and sprained it,” junior forward Bella Burns said. “Then it got better. But tonight, I got stepped on right on the inside of the same foot.”
Burns was down on the turf at Doc Harris Stadium for a couple of minutes before limping off.
“I got it taped up and got ready to play the second half,” Burns said.
“She bounced back; it was fine,” teammate Anna Mooney added.
Mooney was right. Six minutes into the second half, Burns took a pass from Maya Parman and quickly went up the left side. Burns crossed the ball to Mooney, who punched it in to give Camas the pivotal first goal en route to a 2-0 win over Kennedy Catholic of Burien in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament.
“There were a couple in the first half that she crossed that I was like behind the defender and I couldn’t get to,” Mooney said. “I was like ‘I need to get to one of these.’ So I just put my foot out and hoped for the best. And it worked.”
The match was very similar to the bi-district match against Curtis, in which the Papermakers controlled play in the first half but could not seem to find that first goal.
In fact, Camas almost found itself trailing at halftime when a Kennedy Catholic free kick from 40 yards out bounced off the post.
“We had a slow first half, and we need to definitely work on that in the next game because the competition is going to go up,” Mooney said. “But once we bounced back, we played really well in the second half.”
Camas had to survive another scare when Kennedy nearly tied the match in the 50th minute. A long ball by the Lancers bounced away from Camas goalkeeper Keely Wieczorek, but defender Hannah Terry cleared it away from in front of the goal.
“That was a great play,” Mooney said.
Camas got some insurance In the 55th minute when Mooney fed Emerson Grafton, who worked the ball free for a shot that gave Camas a 2-0 lead.
“I think when we settle down and play our game and connect with each other, we do our best,” Burns said. “We were a little frantic in the first half.”
The top-seeded Papermakers now advance to play West Valley of Yakima in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The game is set for 1 p.m. at Doc Harris Stadium.
“I definitely love playing on our home turf,” Mooney said. “It definitely feels good, gets some fans out and win again.”
CAMAS 2, KENNEDY CATHOLIC 0
Kennedy Catholic
Goalkeeper saves – Olivia Erwin 8.
Camas
Goals (assists) – Anna Mooney (Bella Burns); Emerson Grafton (Mooney). Goalkeeper saves – Keely Wieczorek 2.
Halftime – 0-0.
