Lions play with pride, return to thick of league race

Moses Lake Christian gives Sunnyside Christian first loss of year

MOSES LAKE - The Sunnyside Christian Knights hadn't lost a soccer match yet this season.

But the Knights ran into a hungry and much-improved Moses Lake Christian team on Tuesday, and the Lions were looking like the unbeaten team after a 4-0 scalding in a North Central Washington League contest at Cascade Park.

Sunnyside Christian had beaten the Lions on Sept. 18, but Moses Lake Christian - which lost a number of seniors off last season's third-place state squad and spent the first few weeks this year regrouping - owned the rematch.

The Lions improved to 5-4 overall, the first time they've been over .500 this fall.

"It was good to come back and not just play well, but I felt like we really dominated," Lions head coach Scott McCornack said. "We've made a lot of adjustments and the kids have just gotten better and better each game."

The teams will play once more, Oct. 23 at Sunnyside.

Moses Lake Christian stormed out of the gates Tuesday, moving the ball smoothly from side to side and challenging the Knights' backfield. In the fifth minute, Isaac Murrell hit Jesse Bassett near the top of the penalty area, and Bassett rifled a left-footed shot to the far post for the game's first goal.

Bassett, the team's senior co-captain, has played an integral role for the Lions since eighth grade - 1B squads are allowed to use eighth-graders in high school - and was perhaps the best player on the field Tuesday.

"It if wasn't for his one season where he was injured, he would actually be a five-year letterman," McCornack said of Bassett. "He's just a great team player. He's very unselfish. He will distribute the ball when he could just take it and go."

The Lions' other senior co-captain, Kameron Firouzi, was also a major factor. After Sunnyside Christian nearly tied it a few minutes earlier by heading the ball off the crossbar, Firouzi took a through ball from Jared DeTrolio and chipped the ball over the Knights' goalkeeper.

Firouzi was out of action for a week due to back spasms, and the rest seems to be paying off, McCornack noted.

"He's got fantastic quickness and speed," McCornack said of Firouzi. "He was our second-leading scorer last year. He's only 5-8, but he's probably one of our better players in the air."

Sophomore midfielder Jonathan Roberts almost made it a 3-0 game at half, hitting the crossbar with a perfectly placed 30-yard shot. No matter - the Lions would convert twice more in the second half.

Murrell set up Firouzi in the 45th minute for a highlight reel goal. Firouzi juked the goalkeeper out of position, saved the ball just before it crossed the end line, then buried it into the open net.

Sophomore Jae Yoon Jung got the Lions' final goal in the 80th minute off a crossing pass from eighth-grader Nick Hocking.

Moses Lake Christian had 14 shots on goal to Sunnyside Christian's eight. Lion keeper Stefan McNamara was credited with three saves, a low number that resulted from solid defense in front of him. The Lions have three new defensive starters this fall, and they seem to be jelling at the right time.

Senior sweeper Taylor Webb is one of those new starters, moving over from midfield, and junior right-side defender Tevyn Kagele, a first-year varsity player, is also playing well.

"I'm encouraged by the younger guys," McCornack said. "They are really stepping up and the older guys are taking them under their wing and mentoring them.

"Collectively, it's a really good group to work with," he added. "They're working with each other and not beating each other up mentally."

The victory moved Moses Lake Christian into third place in the league standings. The Lions have a chance to move up - and a chance at redemption - when they travel to Yakima to face the Riverside Christian Crusaders on Thursday at 4 p.m. The Crusaders sit in second place and, like Sunnyside Christian, already possess a victory over the Lions.

McCornack said his squad had beaten up on some lesser teams, but Tuesday's victory solidified in his mind that the Lions are capable of playing at a high level.

"Tonight we needed to see if we can do it with someone who is a little better," he said. "Thursday will be similar."