Early goal stands for Chiefs in win

MOSES LAKE — At approximately 7 p.m. on Thursday the Moses Lake Chiefs had never beaten West Valley (Spokane) in soccer.

About 90 minutes later that statement would be done and dusted.

A 13th-minute penalty kick by Devin Petersen was all the Chiefs needed to beat visiting West Valley 1-0 last night and win their fourth match in their last five outings.

Moses Lake (5-4, 4-4) earned the spot kick after West Valley committed a contact foul in their penalty area during an offensive move by Kurtis Spotted-Bear.

“West Valley was a very physical team and they roughed up our forwards pretty good tonight,” Moses Lake coach Bill Bertram said. “But in the end     it cost them when they gave away an undisciplined foul in the box.” 

Petersen’s tally held up as the Chiefs maintained tempo throughout most of the match which was played primarily in the midfield.

Moses Lake out possessed West Valley 60-40 percent while outshooting them 15-8.

What made the historic win even more impressive was the Chiefs had only 48 hours to recover from a tough 4-0 road loss at Davis on Tuesday night.

“We put the Davis game behind us and played another solid defensive game,” Bertram said. “Our midfield play was much better today and Devin really controlled the center and distributed well.”

Aaron Molina aided Moses Lake’s defense by securing goal with six saves as he was back between the sticks after missing the last couple of matches.

The Chiefs also found a way to win a different style of encounter as West Valley tried to slow down the quicker, more agile Moses Lake squad by playing a ‘win-ugly’ style of game.

“We’re used to playing physical and that’s one of our cornerstones but when your two forward weigh-in at a buck-20 we can’t always be as physical up front so we have to adjust our play a little bit,” Bertram said. “We adapt on the fly and subbing is a big thing. We put some in during different situations and tonight I was able to find their tendencies and put players in where they could fit and relax our defense. They didn’t have any dominating forwards and allowed our team to push up, especially our defense and they did well tonight.”

Molina’s clean sheet is pivotal for the squad that has six regular season matches remaining as they make a push for a post season bid.

“We have six games left now and of those we need to win four of those to be put in a good playoff seed,” Bertram said. “Every win we have puts us closer. Davis, Walla Walla and Pasco are the upper tier teams. We play Pasco on Saturday and this win is more about what about what we have to do and it does give us momentum.”

Toppenish 4, Ephrata 1

TOPPENISH  — Despite a solid first half performance, the Ephrata Tigers were undone by a rough second 40 minutes in a 4-1 loss at Toppenish last night.

Ramon Sanchez scored in the first half for Ephrata, who went into the intermission tied at 1-1.

Then things took a turn for the not-so-good.

“We probably had our worst second half in the season,” Ephrata coach Keith Laughlin said. “Besides the wind blowing like crazy we had some midfield breakdowns that led to some quick transitions and easy attack opportunities for Toppenish.”

Despite the three-goal second half barrage by the hosts, Laughlin saw plenty to keep his hopes up for his squad as they start toward the home stretch of the season.

“Overall the guys played well against the number one team in the south,” Laughlin said. “We had more quality scoring opportunities and we can definitely create and can counter attack. If we link our passes together we can do a very good job.”

Ephrata dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-4 in Central Washington Athletic Conference (CWAC) play.