Othello soccer beats Grandview

OTHELLO - The Huskies shutout the Greyhounds 3-0 in the first round of the district playoffs in Othello Saturday.

The win puts Othello in a showdown with Toppenish tomorrow in Wildcat country for the district championship. The winner will advance to the state tournament as the District 5/6/7 No. 2 seed.

The loser of the match advances to the regional tournament as the District 5/6 No. 2 seed.

"We got banged up at Ellensburg (in a May 1 loss) and were playing it by ear," coach Bernie Garza said. "Alec Alvarez hurt his ankle and now hurt his knee. Jorge Campos hurt his ankle and was just playing half speed. He still scored one goal (against Grandview) and had one assist. The good news is he should be 100 percent by Tuesday. Alec might be out a week."

Fredy Agustin (Campos) gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead with a goal at the 18 minute-mark.

The score held up through intermission. Matt Jones (Ociel Romero) made it 2-0 with a header into the box at the 48th minute of action. Campos scored his 21st goal of the season at the 64 minute-mark to round out the scoring for the match, 3-0.

Othello dominated control of the ball as they out shot Grandview 26 to nine.

The Huskies keeper Martel Saucedo had five saves on the day. He recorded his 10th shutout of the season.

The match against Toppenish is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

"We have been waiting for this rematch against Toppenish since the whistle blew right after the first game," Garza said. "We have been working on being more aggressive during games as we got run off the ball at Ellensburg and that was the difference in the game against Toppenish."

This time, things will be different, Garza said.

"We will come out more aggressive and fight for every ball," he said. "We will need to stay focused as they have two very quick forwards and a tough defense. We need to shoot more and not let their physical play affect us like last time."

The win over Grandview runs Othello's record to 15-2 overall.