Ephrata soccer bares claws in second half

Tigers 4, Huskies 1

OTHELLO - Still stinging from a loss at home on Saturday to the Ellensburg Bulldogs, the Ephrata Tigers girls soccer team faced a daunting task Tuesday when it hit the road to battle a feisty Othello Huskies squad.

After losing to Ellensburg, the Tigers sorely needed a victory at Othello. After a somewhat sluggish first half, they got it thanks to four unanswered goals and 21 saves from goalkeeper Kathryn Bolding, beating the Huskies 4-1 in a Central Washington Athletic Conference contest.

Othello, missing two injured starters, put up a terrific fight in the first half, but fell victim to a tenacious Tiger attack in the second half that seized momentum and never let up.

Othello head coach Sarah Vasquez said the absences of senior defender Alexis Montemayor and junior midfielder Rosa Mendoza were a factor in her team's defeat.

"Saturday they were fine. Monday I got two doctor's notes saying they're out two weeks," Vasquez said. "We're going to be hurting for a while, but I think the other two girls I put in will step up."

Othello, which beat CWAC rival Quincy 8-0 on Saturday, started well. Ten minutes in, Jenny Silva's 20-yard free kick found the foot of teammate Lindsay Garza, who deflected the ball just wide. A minute later, Garza broke free off the right side and forced Bolding into a tough save.

Neither side mustered many chances over the next 15 minutes, but Othello broke the scoreless draw in the 26th minute after the Tigers failed to clear the ball twice and it ended up on the right foot of Carolina Borba from 10 yards out.

It didn't take long for the Tigers to answer. In the 27th minute, senior forward Jessica McDonnell found the ball from 15 yards away and blasted it past DelaFuente to the far post.

Ephrata head coach Hillary Coomes said her team came out with a different mental approach in the second half, realizing they were still in good shape despite not having played their best.

"It was even and somebody needed to step up, and I told them that," Coomes said. "They just came out with it and ready to go."

Justine Hintz gave Ephrata the lead at the 44-minute mark, chesting the ball in after a short scrum off a corner kick. That seemed to spark the Tigers' high-powered offense, which could've had a lot more than the two insurance goals it got later.

Kamal Jhutty got Ephrata's third goal in the 54th minute, picking up a loose ball from 10 yards out and beating DelaFuente to the far post. McDonnell tacked on her second goal of the night in the 70th minute, running down a long outlet pass behind the Huskie defense.

Ephrata had 26 shots on goal to Othello's 23. DelaFuente made 12 saves for Othello.

The Tigers learned something from their loss to Ellensburg that Coomes applied in Tuesday's contest.

"I told them it was going to be the same concept - they were going to try to feed it through and run onto the ball," she said.

Coomes felt a big key to victory was neutralizing midfielder Christine Kirkwood, the Huskies' best distributor.

"It was going to come off her feet, she was going to be feeding them all day long," Coomes said of Kirkwood. "I told them we had to put pressure on here, keep the ball off her feet as much as we possibly can."

Garza, Othello's talented freshman scorer who gained valuable skills through the Columbia Basin United select program, was bottled up by another freshman - Ephrata's Kari Inch.

"She has totally stepped into the shoes of Brittany Jensen," Coomes said, referring to the Tigers' four-year sweeper who is now playing for Wenatchee Valley College.

Coomes was also impressed with the play of Bolding who, like Inch, is replacing a four-year starter and current collegiate player - Evergreen State College's Miriam Hall.

"She is coming along," Coomes said of Bolding. "She's not as tall, but she makes up for it with aggressiveness and reading the angles. She did a fabulous job for us."

The Huskies will look to rebound on Thursday when they play a 4 p.m. non-league game at Cashmere. The Tigers host Selah in a CWAC contest on Friday at 4 p.m.

Vasquez figures Selah and Ephrata will be two of the biggest hurdles Othello will have to clear in order to sew up a playoff spot.

"They are both very aggressive teams," Vasquez said. "I think we'll all get better as we go on. We have a huge field to cross over when we get to (Ephrata) again."