CAMAS – The Camas girls soccer team is head to the state semifinals thanks, in part, to the revenge goal.
Maya Parman’s shot from 35 yards out in the 54th minute gave the Papermakers a lead they would not relinquish in a 3-2 win Saturday over West Valley of Yakima in the Class 4A state quarterfinals.
West Valley had just tied the match 1-1 on a free kick by Jes Lizotte in the 50th minute. The free kick was created by a foul on Parman.
“That was very frustrating,” Parman said. “I was just frustrated at myself. And I saw the opening and I knew I could shoot from that far. So I took the shot. And I wanted it to go in, but it surprised me when it went in, just a little bit.”
“Minder called it the revenge goal,” senior Emerson Grafton, referring to assistant coach Roland Minder.
Parman is the Papermakers’ big leg, handling all the free kicks and corner kickers. The senior midfielder was busy in the first half as Camas took five corner kicks.
“Lots of opportunities off corner kicks,” Parman said.
“We just got to work on putting them away,” Grafton added.
Grafton did that in the 25th minute, when Parman’s corner was cleared out to Jasmine Whittington, who fed the ball back into Grafton for the goal.
“Jazzy headed it to me and all practice we’ve been working on spinning,” Grafton said. “I just spun and saw the net, and we’re always talk about shooting if you see the net. I took a shot and it went in, and I was super excited.”
Two minutes after Parman’s go-ahead goal in the second half, Bella Burns made it 3-1 Camas. It proved pivotal when West Valley made it a 3-2 game in the 65th minute.
“You could tell we were getting tired from all the games this season, and we just had to keep working,” Parman said. “That’s what we did. We were able to hold them off to the end. … They came out hard. They wanted it, too. They were a great opponent.”
And the Rams were just the test Camas needed, Grafton said.
“That’s just great for the elite eight, because that will just set us up for the final four,” Grafton said..
Camas (20-0-1) will advance to play Skyline or Glacier Peak in the 4A semifinal on Friday at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup.
“We just worked so hard all season, and we came into the game not afraid,” Grafton said. “We were ready to win and now we’re ready to get on that bus a go.”
CAMAS 3, WEST VALLEY-YAKIMA 2
West Valley
Goals – Jes Lizotte, Gigi Doucette. Goalkeeper saves – Taylor Poor 6.
Camas
Goals (assists) – Emerson Grafton (Jasmine Whittington), Maya Parman, Bella Burns (Parker Mairs). Goalkeeper saves – Keely Wieczorek 3.
Halftime – Camas 1-0
