Ephrata earns a CWAC district tournament berth with 1-0 win over Othello

EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers have been in loser-out mode for so long they just seem to thrive on it. With Thursday’s 1-nil win over Othello, the Ephrata boys soccer team is finally in, in the CWAC district tournament that is.

Abbey Guerrero Hernandez scored in the 31st minute and the goal was enough to propel the Tigers (6-7-2, 4-5 CWAC) into the CWAC district tournament as the No. 6 seed. The loss eliminated Othello (10-5-1, 4-5 CWAC) from the postseason.

“We’ve had that never-say-die mentality all month. We were mentally prepared today because we knew that every game mattered,” said Tigers coach Ivan Garay. “I told people six games ago we had a lot of motivation to step up.

“I kept doing the scenario after every game. Beating Quincy (Tuesday) would have put us in a better place, but I knew the season wasn’t over until the last game, and now we get to keep playing.”

The Tigers started the season 2-0-1, but went into a funk, losing six of their next seven matches. That stretch also included a tie with Quincy on March 20 and they went winless for close to 30 days.

But they put together a three-game winning streak to fight their way back into postseason contention, and despite a loss to Quincy earlier this week, the Tigers will live to see another day.

“This game was for the seniors. They didn’t want to be done yet,” said Ephrata goaltender Josh Benthem, who made 20 saves on the day. “We scored the one goal and (Othello) just kept booting it up trying to put pressure on. A lot of people had their doubts about us this year, but we stayed together and now we’re going into districts on a roll.”

Officials waved off a second Ephrata goal with 23 minutes remaining in the match when a last-minute foot extension in the box created an offsides penalty. Othello pressed at every opportunity in the second half.

Each possession seemed to take on a greater sense of urgency. The Huskies had their chances late with a point blank shot in the box going wide and a header on a corner kick just missing.

“The only difference today was the offsides penalty they didn’t call when they scored,” Othello coach Bernie Garza said. “We outshot them. We outplayed them.”

The Ephrata defense was solid in front of Benthem, clearing ball after ball and gathering around when the corner kicks threatened in the last 20 minutes.

“We just never give up. We’ve been playing that way for the last half of the season with our backs pretty much against the wall,” Guerrero Hernandez said. “We had the motivation today with the chance to go to the district tournament if we won and we used that momentum.”

The Tigers broke out of the funk on April 14 with a 3-2 win over Wapato. They shutout Prosser, then stunned No. 1 Selah to finish the season on a 4-1 run going into the district tournament.

No. 6 Ephrata will play No. 3 East Valley (11-3-2) on Tuesday in Yakima in a loser-out match.