Othello loses, 1-0, at Ephrata, drops to fourth place in league
OTHELLO — When the Dawgs were pushed off the top of the mountain, they tumbled all the way to fourth place – for district tournament purposes.
Othello had owned or shared the top spot in the CWAC league in girls soccer from the beginning of the season until last Tuesday’s loss at Ephrata, 1-0.
The loss dropped the Huskies into a four-way tie with Ephrata, Ellensburg and Selah for the title with seven wins and two losses. The tie break was determined by a pre-season number draw by the Athletic Directors.
Othello’s AD Don Bullis had drawn number 7. So the Huskies ended up in fourth place.
The loss at Ephrata was not without some controversy.
“Ephrata scored their only goal in the first half as the ball was being dribbled down the left sidelines,” Huskie coach Bernie Garza said. “It clearly went out of bounds, and we stopped playing, and they continued and crossed the ball in front of the goal and tapped it in. We were waiting for the call for out of bonds, and that was the game winner.”
Othello tied the score with ten minutes left in the second half, the Huskies thought, but the goal was taken away by the officials.
Nikki Velazquez received the ball in the onside position, beat a defensive player, went around the goalie and scored, and they called it off sides,” Garza said.
The call probably would have been a little easier for Garza to accept if the linesman had not been wearing an Ephrata Tiger hat with Ephrata Soccer embroidered on it. The Huskies had 25 fouls called against them while Ephrata had two.
Following the loss at Ephrata, Othello bounced back with a 3-0 victory at Toppenish to earn a share of the league title for the first time since 2006.
Victoria Cantu scored Othello’s first goal on a header. Kaylee Martinez hit a high looping ball that curved in for Othello’s second goal and her 17th goal of the season.
Velazquez scored her 30th goal of the season on a header off Jazlyn Verduzco’s cross to give Othello the 3-0 margin of victory.
The fourth-place Huskies will host the fifth-place Prosser Mustangs (6-3) today at Huskie Stadium for the opening round of the district soccer tournament.
The winner will advance to meet the first place Vikings at Selah on Thursday, Oct 27, in a semifinal. The loser will be out.
The semifinal winners will advance to state while the semifinal losers will meet to determine the league’s third and fourth seeds.
The fourth-place CWAC entry will travel to the first-place Great Northern entry while the third place CWAC squad will face the Great Northern second seed. Those winners will advance to the state tourney, and the losers will go home.
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