Frederick finds a way for Chiefs

Senior's late goal propels Moses Lake soccer to first CBL victory of 2007

MOSES LAKE - The Lady Chiefs played 73 minutes of solid soccer on Tuesday night.

Trouble was, they didn't have anything to show for it.

In its final appearance of the season at Lions Field, Moses Lake looked as if it would be headed to overtime with Columbia Basin League rival Kennewick. But Megan Frederick, one of the Chiefs' five seniors, had other ideas.

Frederick narrowly missed on two chances during the first half. With roughly six minutes left in regulation, she beat Kennewick goalkeeper Amanda Hall with a 20-yard rocket to the near post, the shot barely grazing Hall's fingers before settling in the back of the net to give the Chiefs a 1-0 win over the Lions - Moses Lake's first win of the CBL season.

"She deserves everything she's got," Chiefs head coach Ricardo Char said of Frederick. "She's playing like a first-team all-conference midfielder and she's the best player we've got, hands down. I'm going to miss her."

Moses Lake (2-13 overall, 1-12 CBL) hasn't had nearly the success it had hoped for in August, but some of the anguish was overshadowed by Tuesday's triumph. Char said it's been a challenging season on many fronts, but winning on Senior Night was a bright spot.

"It's perfect - it's everything you picture wanting," he said. "When you've got a bunch of injuries and a bunch of incidents that happened to us to bring us down, obviously you're going to be frustrated.

"The main thing is coaching other aspects of the game and keeping their chins up."

Frederick also saw frustration mount in her teammates over the course of the season, but said things weren't as bad as the Chiefs' record might indicate.

"We were hoping that we wouldn't be measured by our success in games," she said. "We've been getting progressively better as a team but it hasn't been showing on the scoreboard.

"It was a good one to go out with, show that we actually can do it."

Frederick teamed with freshmen Maggie Munoz and Sydney Kimbro to punish Kennewick's defense early. Eight minutes in, Kimbro settled the ball alone in the penalty area, but shanked a left-footed shot wide.

Then, within a six-minute span, Frederick barely missed on two 20-yard blasts from nearly identical spots. The second clanged off the crossbar, and Hall stretched to deflect Kimbro's rebound shot wide.

Moses Lake wasn't without heroics on defense. In the 34th minute, Kennewick co-captain Julissa Rodriguez dribbled her way past Amanda Kimmel and broke in on goal. But Chiefs keeper Kelly Sutherland, still recovering from a knee injury, raced off her line and made a sliding save to deny Rodriguez.

Sophomore Bailey Ritchie relieved Sutherland to start the second half, and quickly made her presence known by stoning two well-struck shots from Rodriguez.

"She didn't play her freshman year," Char said of Ritchie. "She's been getting in a bunch of time with Kelly out, playing up at varsity and getting lots of looks. She's a future solid part of our program."

Sutherland remains the Chiefs' No. 1 backstop, but Ritchie figures to see the field again in Saturday's season finale against the Davis Pirates, a 1 p.m. start in Yakima.

"(Sutherland's) dad will kill me if we don't get her knee healthy for basketball season," Char said with a laugh. "Probably for our last game on Saturday, they'll split time again, Kelly to start and Bailey to finish."

The team had confidence coming into Senior Night knowing Kennewick wasn't one of the CBL's elite teams.

"We knew that, as a team, we were pretty equal to them," Frederick said. "They've had a lot of losses too, so it was just about who wanted it more - talent didn't matter."

Frederick and Char both talked about the team's senior class and what they've meant to the program. For Char, it's the second group he's coached for an entire four-year period.

"Obviously, whenever you have that much time with them, you're going to miss them," he said. "There's a lot of leadership there. It's definitely a huge loss for the team."

"It's been a good group," Frederick added. "We all follow the rules, don't get into trouble. We've been sticking together since the seventh grade."